(1981) EXPERIENCES WITH INVERSION IN THE TEACHER/STUDENT ROLES IN “ECOLOGY” CLASSES

摘要

In this paper the methodology used for the teaching of the subject of “ecology” in the EnvironmentalSciences degree at the Polytechnic School of Gandia (Valencia Polytechnic University) is exposed.The subject faces serious difficulties because it requires knowledge of other subjects. In addition, theprogram is broad, and it is imperative to acquire the knowledge necessary for further subjects(management and conservation of biotic and abiotic resources, environmental impact assessment,adaptation to climate change, etc.). All this represents a significant effort both for teachers andstudents. Although academic results were good, the retention capacity of the acquired knowledge wasnot satisfactory, so it was necessary to propose a change in the methodology. Conventionally thesubject had been taught with theoretical lectures.The methodological changes that have taken place in the classes were based on the inversion of therole of teachers and students.We decided to transform the inherent difficulty of the subject in an opportunity to learn to correlate thedifferent knowledge acquired, building more complex thoughts and approaches.The main objective is intended to enable students to achieve the integration of all abiotic and bioticcomponents in the definition of an ecosystem and to explain and predict natural processes and / oranthropogenic modifications. In terms of transversal skills effective communication, critical thinking,awareness of contemporary issues and specific instrumental competence were developed.Students were organized into different groups in order to prepare and give the classes of some of thetopics. Their teaching, supported by a PowerPoint or similar presentation, should consist of severalparts: a presentation of the concepts, exemplifications with explanation of scientific experiments,approach activities for the whole class and finally a set of questions and open answer to beundertaken by all students. The same presentations (once revised and amended) were the materialfor the assessment of the theoretical part of the subject.The evaluation was conducted in three ways: observations of learners in the classroom, results of theevaluations, and valuation of the knowledge acquired in courses of the following year.The main conclusions of this experience are: Teaching units with better results were as follows: lifecycles, population dynamics, distribution patterns, intraspecific competition, interspecific competition,predation and herbivory, and parasitism and symbiosis.The most successful classes were those that were developed using environmental interpretationtechniques. The topics were organised developing a script-argument, which was synthesized in a textwith the fundamental concepts raised in the introduction and completed in the final summary.The horizontal exchange has increased, but the teacher acts as mediator and guide. Even when thestudents organise the class, the teacher is still the class leader, and that was considered a positivefactor in the experience;;leadership is held together with increased accountability on the part ofstudents.Finally, we consider essential to leave a margin for personal choice: spontaneous establishment of thegroups, autonomy of choice in relation to the topic among those proposed and wide margin of freedomin relation to the methodology when giving the class, both in content and form.