Resumen de Metodologies singulars per a l'aprenentatge en l'aprofitament tecnològic dels recursos de la natura
Nuria Torras-Melenchon
For years, we are in the middle of a crisis of scientific and technological vocations, which is found year after year in the number of students enrolled in science and technology studies. If that trend continues, there will be a lack of qualified professionals to meet future labour demands in these sectors, as well as the scientific literacy of the citizens could be jeopardized.
Entities and institutions throughout the country have promoted actions and initiatives focused on addressing the current crisis of scientific and technical vocations. In general, they are about dissemination activities that bring science and technology closer to society and initiatives that want to introduce a methodological change, with the objective of improving the teaching of science and technology. However, very few studies evaluate and quantify the impact of these actions in terms of vocations.
The research developed in this doctoral thesis has focused on studying the quality and impact of three initiatives that have the common purpose of encouraging scientific-technical vocations among pre-university students: the EXPLORA courses, including the courses of the Nature Summer Catalan University, the Knowledge Fair and the project Activities with the Exploratori. The Knowledge Fair is a scientific communication event, while the EXPLORA courses and the Activities with the Exploratori project promote some methodologies for teaching/learning in science and technology. All of them are organized by the Exploratori: Natural Resources and take the natural resources and their technological exploitation as a guiding thread.
The chosen research design consisted of taking measures before and after the actions to evaluate the differences. However, since the characteristics and format of the three actions are very different, the type of research done was differentiated in each separated case. The evaluation of the EXPLORA courses has been based on a descriptive non-experimental research design, that of the Knowledge Fair in a pre-test-post-test quasi-experimental design and, finally, the quantitative evaluation of the impact of the Activities with the Exploratori project was based on a pre-test-post-test quasi-experimental design with control groups. The study of this last action is completed by a qualitative research technique; the discussion groups.
Data collection was carried out through questionnaires, distributed to all the participants in the actions object of study during the academic years 2013-2014 and 2014-2015. The information collected through the questionnaires was stored and managed in a database specifically designed for this purpose. Quantitative data were estimated using statistical techniques of a univariate type (frequency distributions, descriptive position and dispersion characteristics, etc.), bivariate (Pearson¿s chi-squared test, Student¿s t-test, etc.) and multivariate (multiple and logistic regression analysis).
The statistical analysis of the data collected confirms that the actions studied had a certain impact on the participants in many evaluated aspects. The EXPLORA courses provided knowledge, information and useful ideas which will be favourably impact in the teaching of the secondary school teachers. In addition, the secondary school teachers who attended the EXPLORA courses will contribute to making the subjects of the STEM area more attractive. The Knowledge Fair was able to encourage some of the students to continue studying in the future in the scientific or technological field. The study of the Activities with the Exploratori project, in which more complex statistical techniques have been applied, shows that some of the students who participated in the project made the decision to choose a career in the STEM field at the end of the study, and the reason of this choice was the participation in the activities of the project.
