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Didactic proposal for the teaching of classical mechanics through microhistories.
Didactic proposal for the teaching of classical mechanics through microhistories.
Propuesta didáctica para la enseñanza de la mecánica clásica a través de microhistorias
Proposta didáctica para o ensino da mecânica clássica através de micro-histórias
Franklin Edmundo Molina Jiménez
MAGISTER, Universidad Central del Ecuador
femolina@uce.edu.ec
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2374-2192
Lucia Antonieta Goyes Chulde
MAGISTER, Universidad Central del Ecuador
lagoyes@uce.edu.ec
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7806-5312
Diego Armando Guerrero Soto
LICENCIADO, Calderon Municipal Educational Unit
da.gs_77@hotmail.com
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1644-0003
Received May, 2021 - Approved July 2022
Revista Iberoamericana de la Educación
Vol - 6 No. 4, October - December 2022
e-ISSN: 2737-632x
Pgs 66-77
Abstract: Physics learning can be performed in many ways. The objective of
this research is to determine the influence of the use of microhistories in the
teaching of Classical Mechanics in the first and second year students of the
General Unified High School of the FEBE Educational Institution. The
research is of an exploratory-descriptive level through a documentary and
field research, for the collection of information an instrument was elaborated
composed of four activities that are governed to the ERCA learning cycle. At
the end of the research it was concluded that micro-stories do contribute to
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Didactic proposal for the teaching of classical mechanics through microhistories.
improve learning, establishing that with their use the student generates
significant learning.
Key words: Microhistory, Pre-instructional strategy, Post-instructional
strategy, Erca, Classical Mechanics.
Resumen: El aprendizaje de la Física puede ser ejecutado de muchas
maneras. La investigación tiene como objetivo determinar la influencia del
uso de las microhistorias en la enseñanza de la Mecánica Clásica en los
estudiantes de primero y segundo año de Bachillerato General Unificado de
la Institución Educativa FEBE. La investigación es de nivel exploratorio-
descriptivo a través de una investigación documental y de campo, para la
recolección de la información se elaboró un instrumento compuesto por
cuatro actividades que se rigen al ciclo de aprendizaje ERCA. Al finalizar la
investigación se concluyó que las microhistorias sí contribuyen a mejorar el
aprendizaje, estableciéndose que con su utilización el estudiante genera un
aprendizaje significativo.
Palabras clave: Microhistoria, Estrategia pre instruccionales, Estrategia post
instruccionales, Erca, Mecánica Clásica.
Resumo: A aprendizagem da física pode ser implementada de muitas
maneiras. A investigação visa determinar a influência do uso de microestórias
no ensino da Mecânica Clássica nos alunos do primeiro e segundo anos do
Bacharelato Geral Unificado da Instituição de Ensino FEBE. A investigação
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Didactic proposal for the teaching of classical mechanics through microhistories.
é a nível exploratório-descritivo através de um documentário e pesquisa de
campo, para a recolha de informação foi desenvolvido um instrumento que
consiste em quatro actividades que são regidas pelo ciclo de aprendizagem
ERCA. No final da investigação concluiu-se que as micro-histórias
contribuem para melhorar a aprendizagem, estabelecendo que com a sua
utilização o estudante gera uma aprendizagem significativa.
Palavras-chave: Micro-história, Estratégia pré-instrucional, Estratégia pós-
instrucional, Erca, Mecânica Clássica.
INTRODUCTION
The obstacles in the teaching-learning process of Physics have been solved
according to the technological progress, since the educational processes have
been improving according to the management of new information and
communication technologies, thus: "Internet has radically changed the way
people learn. On the one hand, the availability of information sources, on the
other hand, the way in which we exchange data of all kinds." (Corporación
Colombia Digital, 2012, p. 11), the sources of information that we have today
are innumerable and every day more and more appear, these have
revolutionized the way of teaching and learning Physics.
The theoretical and practical domain goes hand in hand and therefore it is
necessary to know the why of things, in this case the why of the appearance
of the laws of Classical Mechanics, this is a topic that currently few or none
of the high school students know, and it is of utmost importance to find the
way in which teachers can provide this part of science, which is unknown to
new generations of students. From the use of microhistories of how the
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Didactic proposal for the teaching of classical mechanics through microhistories.
theories that govern Physics arose, the student will find it easier to be
immersed in this beautiful field of study called Classical Mechanics in
Physics.
Consequently, the problem statement is given to the need to investigate: How
to use microhistories in the teaching of Classical Mechanics aimed at students
of first and second year of General Unified Baccalaureate?
The objectives guiding the research are to analyze the use of micro-stories in
the teaching of Classical Mechanics to first and second year students of the
Unified General High School, to determine the characteristics that micro-
stories should have for the teaching of Classical Mechanics, to establish the
relevant aspects in chronological form of the historical process of the
advancement of Classical Mechanics and to present a methodological
proposal for the teaching of Classical Mechanics in Physics through the use
of micro-stories.
The neglect that teachers have, by not relating the historical events that led to
the appearance of Classical Mechanics, establishes the need to create a
methodological proposal that allows the historical aspect of Physics to be
united through the creation of a mini-collection of stories with animation that
can be used by teachers as an introduction to the topics of study.
The introduction to a new subject of study has always been a conflict when
not having the right way to embark on the subject, especially in Physics where
it is required to be very assertive when giving a clear and precise introduction.
(Martínez, P 2007) About the introductory activities he argues that:
These are activities that are preferably carried out at the beginning of a class
or a new learning phase and whose purpose is to motivate students and
provide them with a first contact with the topic to be developed during the
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Didactic proposal for the teaching of classical mechanics through microhistories.
session. These activities involve the active participation of the students; for
this reason their degree of difficulty is not usually very high, always being at
a level appropriate to the knowledge (and even preferences) of the students.
One of their main characteristics is that they almost have a playful or fun
component with the aim of increasing student motivation, relaxing the
classroom atmosphere and presenting new elements in an attractive and
accessible way (p.26).
In view of the above, it is considered necessary to propose a didactic guide
that allows to generate a significant learning of Classical Mechanics through
micro-stories adapted to the technological resources currently available, such
as "Video Scribe" that allows to draw stories or sequenced images by means
of a virtual digitizer and blackboard.
From the point of view of (Mora & Reyes, 1987) Classical Mechanics "is the
science that, based on Newton's laws, studies the motion of bodies and the
causes that produce it, when the speeds are small compared to that of light"
(p. 3).
According to (Morales, 2017) the microhistory "approaches readers by using
a simple and motivating narrative, close to literature and away from the cold
and formality-laden intellectuality that closes in on itself" (p.38), it is a
didactic technique friendly to students, since it handles a simple language that
facilitates the understanding of the events recounted, in addition to telling
specific facts of the story.
According to (Martinez S, 2017) Video Scribe is a program to create
presentations of the topic you want, its central element is that it allows you to
make videos with animations that look like a whiteboard or colored board, in
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Didactic proposal for the teaching of classical mechanics through microhistories.
it you add drawings, texts and you can add images from the folder, you can
use resources with a marker, which presents the topic with creativity (p.4).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The research is based on a qualitative and quantitative approach, since we
want to make an assessment of the incidence of the application of
microhistories in the teaching of Classical Mechanics, in addition, after the
collection of the information, a statistical analysis of the results obtained is
carried out to determine conclusions from them.
In addition to being a documentary and field research, the modality of the
proposal is that of a feasible project.
According to (Hernández et al., 2014) the population is "the set of all cases
that agree with certain specifications" (p.174), according to this definition we
can establish that in the present research we work with a population of 35
students between 15 and 17 years of age, from the Educational Institution
"FEBE", located in the center of the city of Quito, of which 19 students
correspond to first of General Unified Baccalaureate and 16 students
correspond to second of General Unified Baccalaureate.
The techniques and instruments that have been used in the two phases that
allow the execution of the research, constitute the documentary analysis and
scientific reading; while a questionnaire based on the accounts of the
microhistories of Classical Mechanics in Physics in each activity has been
used as an instrument of data collection.
As pointed out by (Arias, 2006) the questionnaire "is the survey modality that
is carried out in written form by means of an instrument or paper format
containing a series of questions, it is called a self-administered questionnaire
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Didactic proposal for the teaching of classical mechanics through microhistories.
because it must be filled out by the respondent, without the intervention of
the pollster" (p.74), so for this research a questionnaire with multiple choice
answers has been used, which have been developed and applied online using
the Quizizz and Kahoot applications, so that respondents (1st and 2nd BGU
students) can answer them from anywhere and at any time.
The applied instrument has been divided into four activities, each activity has
been developed during a class period, having a total of four classes.
The four proposed activities have the same objective, which is to determine
how the didactic resource called micro-stories contributes to the teaching-
learning process of the subtopics of Classical Mechanics in Physics, which
are taught in the first and second year of the General Unified Baccalaureate.
The instrument has been designed under the ERCA learning cycle, based on
which the tasks to be performed in each activity have been strategically placed
in order to collect the necessary information at the end of each activity. In
order to determine the usefulness of the micro-story presented, the
questionnaire is applied at the beginning and at the end of each activity, with
the purpose of carrying out a comparative analysis between the answers
obtained in the pre-instructional questionnaire and in the post-instructional
one, considering that the students already have a pre-established idea of the
issues raised.
In addition, it should be taken into account that the instrument has been used
at different moments of the class, applying the pre-instructional didactic
strategies, of which the micro-stories are part; the co-instructional strategies,
which are used for the development of conceptualization, in which simulators
of physical phenomena are used, related to the topics addressed by the micro-
stories, with the purpose of helping the student to understand the physical
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Didactic proposal for the teaching of classical mechanics through microhistories.
phenomenon; finally, use is made of the post-instructional strategies that are
used to evaluate the knowledge acquired by the students, in this case the pre-
instructional questionnaire has been used, which consists of the same
questions of the questionnaire applied in the experience phase, adding a
question related to the usefulness of the micro-stories.
RESULTS
Once the data collection instrument has been applied to the 1st and 2nd year
BGU students of the "FEBE" Educational Institution, we proceed to the
analysis and interpretation of the results, for which a comparison is made
between the results obtained in the pre-instructional questionnaires and the
post-instructional questionnaires to determine whether the objective of
determining the usefulness of the micro-stories in the teaching process of
Classical Mechanics in Physics is met.
When analyzing and interpreting the results of activity No. 1, by comparing
the answers obtained in the same questions, applied at different times of the
class (beginning and end), it is determined that students who select the correct
answers increase from 42% to 84%, after presenting the micro-story prepared
for teaching Newton's First Law.
As can be seen in Figure 1, the students consider that observing the
microhistory allowed them to improve their understanding of Newton's First
Law. In the analysis and interpretation of results of activity No. 2, it is
determined that students answer correctly to the question posed in an increase
from 44% to 81%. In the application of the post-instructional questionnaire,
87% of the students consider that the micro-story presented at the beginning
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of the class has been useful to better understand Newton's second law, while
13% indicate that the application of the micro-story has not been useful.
When analyzing and interpreting the results of activity No. 3, the results show
that students who answer the questions correctly increase considerably from
13% to 93% after the application of the micro-story prepared for the topic of
Newton's Third Law.
It is evident that the microhistory presented at the beginning of the class has
helped them to better understand Newton's Third Law.
Finally, when analyzing and interpreting the results of activity No. 4, it is
evident that the students who answer correctly to the questions posed increase
from 56% to 81%, after the application of the micro-story prepared for the
topic to be treated, in addition to establishing that 100% of the students
consider that the micro-story presented at the beginning of the class has been
useful to better understand the Uniform Circular Motion.
It is necessary to continue using microhistories to verify their usefulness in
the learning of Physics. Solbes, J & Través, M (1996) in their research
determined that historical aspects are absent in most texts and when they
appear they are treated superficially without attributing an important role to
them.
It is necessary to raise the following question: Can studying the historical
approach to physics help teachers and students to improve their scientific
knowledge? In addition, it is necessary to determine the validity of past
theories and knowledge in reference to the new knowledge that has been
developed up to the present date. It is important to establish how the mental
and conceptual schemes of students have been modified in the course of time
and how it influences the understanding of the historical aspects of Physics.
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CONCLUSIONS
The development of the project helped to establish a new teaching
methodology based on the narration of micro-stories of Classical Mechanics
in Physics, which allowed linking the historical part of science with the
didactic strategies that have been appearing with the technological
development, with the purpose of improving the teaching-learning process.
Thus, the use of the program to illustrate stories called Video Scribe has been
of great importance to give an interesting and attractive approach to the stories
narrated in class with the purpose of improving the students' learning.
The narrated micro-story must have certain characteristics that move it away
from the traditional narration, so it must have a friendly language and
according to the educational level, with a variable tone of voice not uniform,
it must also be narrated visually with expressive images, such as cartoons,
and funny gif's that captivate the student's attention, also the background
music should not be invasive, as it should facilitate the hearing of the
narration and finally it must have a maximum duration of five minutes, if the
narration is not too long, and funny gif's that captivate the student's attention,
also the background music should not be invasive, as it should facilitate the
hearing of the narration and finally it should have a maximum duration of five
minutes, if the story is too long, it can be narrated in parts as a series.
Based on the results obtained with the data collection instrument, it is
conclusive the remarkable usefulness of the application of micro-stories in
the teaching process of Classical Mechanics in Physics, it is evident that
students observe the information presented in the micro-story and relate it to
the topic, In such a way that with its presentation the student affirms or
changes his empirical conception about physical phenomena, in addition, the
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student learns about the deductions, ideas and analysis made by scientists to
establish different principles and physical laws that govern nature and how
they are related to situations of everyday life, allowing the generation of a real
meaningful learning.
The methodological proposal for the teaching of Classical Mechanics in
Physics has a cooperative structure that includes the use of different didactic
strategies within the class. Thus, the main axis is the microhistory of the
subject to be treated, which can be reinforced with different didactic resources
such as: physical or virtual presentations, simulators, experiments, among
others, but with the characteristic that they must be directly related to the
historical background narrated in the microhistories.
REFERENCES
Arias, F. G. (2006). El proyecto de investigación - Introducción a la
metodología científica (Sexta ed.). Caracas, República Bolivariana de
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Corporaciòn Colombia Digital. (2012). Aprender y educar con las tecnologías
del siglo XXI. Bogotá D.C.: BS Diseño y publicidad.
Hernández Sampieri, R., Fernández, C., & Baptista, P. (2014). Metodología de
la Investigación. México D.F.: McGRAW-HILL /
INTERAMERICANA EDITORES, S.A. DE C.V.
Martínez, P. (2007). Diccionario de enseñanza y aprendizaje de lenguas.
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Martínez, S. (2017). El uso de VideoScribe y Powton como medio para abordar
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mundial, además del uso de blog y canal de You tube . Congreso
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Mora, C. P., & Reyes, P. (1987). Conceptos y principios básicos de la Estática.
México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México UNAM.
Morales, G. (2017). La función de la microhistoria en el proceso de enseñanza
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Solbes, Jordi (1996). La Utilización de la historia de las ciencias en la
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https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=94842
