Mendive. Revista de Educación, July-august 2020; 18(3):599-617

Translated from the original in Spanish

Teaching history through the gender perspective. Evaluation of an innovation proposal

 

Enseñar historia a través de la perspectiva de género. Evaluación de una propuesta de innovación

 

Ensinar a história através de uma perspectiva de género. Avaliação de uma proposta de inovação

 

Humberto Andrés Álvarez Sepúlveda

Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción. Chile. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5729-3404, E-mail: haalvarez@historia.ucsc.cl

 

Received: May 15th, 2020.
Approved: June 28th, 2020.

 


ABSTRACT

The university teaching of history has been centered on the master class and the andocentric historiography paradigm that cancels out the possibility of considering women as historical subjects. However, this didactic-disciplinary approach has not been able to respond to the training needs required by future teachers of the specialty to develop historical thinking in students. For this reason, it is important to move from the current traditional paradigm to a more constructivist and innovative one that focuses on the active and autonomous learning of the student. In order to contribute to this purpose, this article evaluates an experience of educational innovation implemented in a course of a career in Pedagogy, whose proposal seeks to introduce work based on historical skills and to incorporate the gender perspective in the approach to Chilean independence (1810-1823). This study is situated and based on action-research that seeks to improve the historical and pedagogical knowledge of the participating subjects. The results showed that the students achieved significant learning in the mastery of the historical competencies worked on, although the difficulties they had in following the proposed unit were also noted, therefore, from the teaching perspective, it is vitally important to carry out more frequent activities that help future teachers to think historically.

Keywords: didactic unit; history teaching; historical thinking; gender perspective; Chilean independence.


RESUMEN

La enseñanza universitaria de la historia ha estado centrada en la clase magistral y en el paradigma historiográfico androcéntrico que anula la posibilidad de considerar a las mujeres como sujetos históricos. Sin embargo, dicho enfoque didáctico-disciplinar no ha sido capaz de responder a las necesidades formativas que requieren los futuros profesores de la especialidad, para desarrollar el pensamiento histórico en el alumnado. Para ello, es importante transitar desde el paradigma tradicional vigente a uno más constructivista e innovador que se centre en el aprendizaje activo y autónomo del estudiante. Con el fin de aportar a dicho propósito, el presente artículo evalúa una experiencia de innovación educativa implementada en un curso de una carrera de Pedagogía, cuya propuesta busca introducir el trabajo basado en competencias históricas e incorporar la perspectiva de género en el abordaje de la independencia chilena (1810-1823). Este estudio es situado y se basa en una investigación-acción que busca mejorar los conocimientos históricos y pedagógicos de los sujetos participantes. Los resultados mostraron que el alumnado logró aprendizajes significativos en el dominio de las competencias históricas trabajadas, aunque también se constataron las dificultades que tuvieron para seguir la unidad propuesta; por lo que, desde la perspectiva docente, es de vital importancia realizar con mayor frecuencia actividades que ayuden a los futuros profesores a pensar históricamente.

Palabras clave: unidad didáctica; enseñanza de la historia; pensamiento histórico; perspectiva de género; independencia chilena.


RESUMO

O ensino universitário de história tem estado centrado na aula magna e no paradigma historiográfico androcêntrico que anula a possibilidade de considerar as mulheres como sujeitos históricos. Contudo, esta abordagem didáctico-disciplinar não tem sido capaz de responder às necessidades de formação requeridas pelos futuros professores da especialidade para desenvolver o pensamento histórico nos estudantes. Por esta razão, é importante passar do actual paradigma tradicional para um mais construtivista e inovador que se concentre na aprendizagem ativa e autónoma do estudante. A fim de contribuir para este objectivo, o presente artigo avalia uma experiência de inovação educacional implementada no decurso de uma carreira em Pedagogia, cuja proposta procura introduzir trabalho baseado em competências históricas e incorporar a perspectiva de género na abordagem da independência chilena (1810-1823). Este estudo situa-se e baseia-se na investigação-ação que procura melhorar o conhecimento histórico e pedagógico dos sujeitos participantes. Os resultados mostraram que os estudantes conseguiram uma aprendizagem significativa no domínio das competências históricas trabalhadas, embora as dificuldades que tiveram em seguir a unidade proposta também tenham sido notadas. Por conseguinte, do ponto de vista do ensino, é de importância vital realizar actividades mais frequentes que ajudem os futuros professores a pensar historicamente.

Palavras-chave: unidade didáctica; ensino de história; pensamento histórico; perspectiva de género; independência do Chile.

 

INTRODUCTION

After flush the coup of 1973, the university teaching of history in Chile has focused exclusively on the lecture and transmission of androcentric knowledge, which are intended to emphasize the male role in the national history and not to recognize the female participation and their respective contribution to the development of the country.

However, said didactic-disciplinary approach is obsolete to develop significant historical learning in the classrooms of the 21st century, since, following Sáiz Serrano et al. (2018), the teaching of the specialty does not aim at mastering dates, events and male characters, but rather seeks the development of historical thought in students.  

The historical thinking is a met concept which includes skills related to the understanding of the past based on the interpretation of sources and to the creation of historical narratives (van Boxtel et to the. 2020). It is a knowledge that allows us to understand the epistemology of the discipline and supposes the mastery of the first order concepts, such as data, dates and facts; and of the learning of second order associated with historical significance, use of sources, the ethical dimension of history, historical time, the causes and consequences of past events, the uses of history and historical empathy.  

This didactic renewal, based on the development of historical thinking, requires teachers to rethink traditional teaching of the discipline and greater attention to the role of women in the past, which invites to change substantially the teaching practices in the classroom. To achieve this purpose, it is important to rethink the direction of the teacher training specialty, since, first, should have as a priority the development of historical skills in future  teaching  (Hammarlund, 2020) and second, should seek to incorporate innovative  historiography approaches, as the gender perspective in content to teach, as one of the great  order finalities of teaching and learning the discipline, following Armas Castro et al. (2019), is the training of citizens who are capable of building a society based on critical thinking and respect for diversity.

From the teaching perspective, and following the intended objective, it is important to treat the contents from a problematic and controversial perspective, since it allows students to analyze the relationship of the past with the present, understand the temporality of historical processes and contrast different sources to address a certain topic.

Serving the above context, and he objective of this paper is to evaluate an innovative education approach that seeks to counter the master class and the paradigm historiography andocentric, by introducing the work based on historical skills and the mainstreaming of gender in the approach to Chilean independence (1810-1823). Traditionally, this content has been taught from the perspective of patriotic history, which is characterized by being a chronological account of the political and military exploits led by the great heroes of the country such as Bernardo O'Higgins, José Miguel Carrera, Manuel Rodríguez and José de San Martín. Hence the importance of signify, in a historical perspective, this theme.

It should also be noted that this proposal is under the belief that you can make the teachers in training have  best pedagogical knowledge and discipline to teach new generations of students to combat gender discrimination, to question the invasion of false information and to train to build a responsible and critical citizenship that allows them to peacefully solve problems from diversity (Álvarez, 2020; Garcés, 2020). This goes beyond knowing the set of rights and duties contained in the Constitution, to which all citizens are subject. It implies preparing to seek the common good through peaceful methods, which leads to a constant social commitment to promote universal solidarity, acceptance of otherness and resignification of women in history. This is therefore not s only to know, but rather to know - how and know how to be.

 

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Methodology

This study is situated and seeks to propose and deliver a possible solution to a specific pedagogical problem. For this reason, the objective of this research is to develop, through an innovation proposal, a series of significant learning in future history teachers, regarding the study of Chilean independence and its teaching ability in the school classroom. This arises from the need to substantially change the traditional teaching of this content and the patriotic-androcentric approach with which it is regularly taught.

In order to implement this proposal, a course in a Pedagogy career from a Chilean university was selected. This course has 45 students from different socioeconomic backgrounds and has a regular academic level and an average attendance that exceeds 80 % of the total.

It should be noted that the study, in addition to being located, is an action research, since, following Cohen et al. (2011), the intervention is carried out on a small scale in the university course planned to evaluate, reflect and report concrete results of the execution of the unit. Being an investigation - participative action, the investigator of this work is directly responsible for the design, implementation and evaluation of the teaching unit.

Design of the teaching unit

The design of the teaching unit is governed by the second learning outcome on the curriculum of the university course, where the experience was implemented. This learning result considers the study of Chilean history of the 19th century and its respective teach ability in the classroom. Within this overall theme, it is stated the objective of the proposal focuses on addressing Chilean independence through the gender perspective and the work based on historical skills.

Based on this purpose, the training unit was developed. For sequencing of it a qualitative matrix was constructed, in which are considered five categories are considered: educational context, operative phases of the sequence, methods, strategies and techniques teaching and evaluation plan (Table 1).

Table 1- Design matrix of the teaching unit

Learning objective

Analyze Chilean independence from a gender perspective and its respective signifiability in the school classroom.

Educational Context

University course made up of 45 students of Pedagogy. It is a responsible, reflective group that frequently attends classes; however, it has a regular academic level.

 Operational sequence phaces

Phase 1

  • Diagnostic evaluation through a KPSI
  • The learning objective, the work methodology and the relevance of the subject are socialized
  • Presentation of the topic through an interactive infographic

Phase 2

  • Exhibition-interactive class
  • Group work based on critical analysis of sources
  • Implementation of the puzzle technique 

Phase 3

  • Development of a research project through Problem-Based Learning (ABP) , which includes the preparation of a report, the preparation of a teaching proposal and the presentation of their respective class simulation.

Methods, strategies and teaching techniques

  • Exhibition-interactive class
  • Critical analysis of historical sources
  • Puzzle
  • ABP

Evaluation Plan

Indicators

  • They understand Chilean independence from a gender perspective
  • They master the historical skills worked on
  • They reflect on the need to constantly innovate pedagogical practices to develop meaningful learning in students

Evaluation instruments

  • Digital portfolio
  • Analytical rubric to evaluate the portfolio
  • Investigator's Diary

Types of evaluation

  • Diagnostic assessment 
  • Formative Assessment
  • Summative evaluation

Evaluation agents

  • Sel fevaluation
  • Co-evaluation
  • Heteroevaluation

Also, it is noteworthy that the design of the proposal was based on in the appropriation of five own abilities of the historical thinking (Table 2).

Table 2 - Historical competences used in the design of the didactic proposal

Second order learning

Application

Historical relevance

The formulation of questions at the beginning of the topic, such as, do some women know about Chilean independence? Or why do you think they have been displaced from the teaching of history? And the presentation of the interactive info graphic about the main men and women who participated in the Chilean emancipation contribute to the students questioning the traditional perspective in which this content has been taught and allows them to analyze the importance of the facts studied in the present.

Historical evidence

Analysis of visual sources, audiovisual and textual, especially within the historical laboratory recorded in the ABP , was the instance that provided the main inputs that worked and interpreted the future teachers of the specialty to solve questions or planned activities.

Historiographical interpretations

Through the analysis of the sources studied, it contributes to the fact that students can be able to understand history as problematic, subjective and hermeneutical knowledge, since the programmed training itinerary offers them the possibility of comparing and contrasting different historiography views on the female role in the Chilean emancipator process.

Uses of history

Through the critical analysis of the MINEDUC textbooks (Ministry of Education, Chile) and the images consigned on the monuments dedicated to the heroes of the homeland, the students are expected to be able to understand that history can serve to justify controversial events in the past in the present, shape identities or influence in the  social expectations of 6the future .

Ethical dimension of history

Through the scheduled activities, especially the puzzle and the planned ABP, future teachers have the opportunity to assess the injustices of the past and assess responsibilities in a contextualized way , regarding the exclusion of women from the independence process .

Subsequently, the validation of the didactic unit was preceded by two university experts in Didactics of History. The recommendations given by these specialists were essential to improve the statements of the tasks and some questions of the situations rose.

Implementation of the proposal

The didactic unit was carried out at the usual time of the subject (twice a week), and was carried out during six classes of 120 minutes each, corresponding to 12 hours of intervention in the classroom. The classes were recorded in audio, with the consent of the participants. Audio is used in this study only if necessary; that is to say, in situations where it is required to verify the progress of the students in front of a certain task or to review the achievement indicators that showed the mastery of the historical competences worked on.

The implementation of the teaching unit was based on the three operational phases detailed in Table 1 and was based on an active and participative methodology that sought to involve students in the development of a group digital portfolio that should be organized on the platform of Google Sites.

The intervention starts with one KPSI that aims to determine prior knowledge of future teachers about the Chilean independence and the memories they have about the methodology used by teachers of Basic and Middle teaching to teach that content.

This initial evaluation was useful to diagnose that most of the students remember that their teachers taught them Chilean emancipation through traditional classes, mainly focused on the expository lesson and the abusive use of the school text; It also served to visualize that the entire course coincides in that the teaching of the planned content has been given from the androcentric vision of the great heroes of the country.

After the KPSI, the learning objective, the work methodology and the relevance of the subject  to promote the initial motivation of the students on the importance of developing historical thinking and incorporating the gender perspective in the study of independence of Chile were socialized.

For the presentation of the issue, an interactive info graphic that exposed, comparatively and critically, the leading men and women who participated in the patriotic cause was used. This resource served as a cognitive bridge between what the students already knew and what they had to learn. To verify the learning obtained in this activity, they were told to organize in teams of five members, to develop a critical reflection on the subject analyzed.   These groups remained formed along the entire teaching unit to develop different activities, especially puzzle and ABP consigned.

In a second step we proceeded to the introduction of new learning through to an expository-interactive class and group work based or critical analysis of various sources, such as textbooks history, video, letters, newspapers and images of monuments dedicated to the "parents" of the homeland. This activity, from the supply of new data, references and vocabulary on the content provided, sought to generate a conceptual change in students.

To reinforce that learning it was proceed to develop the technique of the Puzzle. For that, the course was organized in small home groups and, subsequently, the text prepared by the teacher "Women in Chilean independence. Guidelines to rethink the patriotic-androcentric history" was distributed, in equal parts, among the members of the teams; secondly, it continued with autonomous study of the assigned part; Third, it continued with the organizing committees of experts to delve into the subject; fourthly, it followed with the conformation of collaborative based groups, where each member share hands with the other members; and finally, it end  with  oral and written reflection of each team.

The Puzzle he was used because of its innovative methodology work, as can enhance the participation of the students, promote the activity of different learning styles and motivate positive interdependence among students. To achieve these purposes, the process of implementing  the Puzzle was accompany  of an  continued  evaluation training that helped to locate possible obstacles in the process of learning of future teachers.

In the third phase, the aim is to strengthen the student's capacity for inquiry through the development of an ABP (Gómez Carrasco et al., 2018). In this strategy, the course was commissioned to analyze, through rigorous group research, a problem related to the teach ability of Chilean independence and the way in which the gender perspective provides new theoretical guidelines to rethink this topic. Also, through the design of a didactic proposal and the exposition of their respective class simulation, the students had to present a possible solution to the investigated problem. The detail of these instances is attached in Table 3.

Table 3- ABP job instances

Instance

Description

Elaboration of the report

Once the teams were formed, they proceeded to select the issues and prepare the research report . The report should be governed by the following structure: cover, introduction, research questions, objectives, methodology, and development of the subject, conclusions, bibliography and annexes.  
Some of the themes worked on in the ABP were: the treatment of Javiera Carrera assigned by the MINEDUC school texts, the predominance of the andocentric approach in the teaching of Chilean independence, the figure of Bernardo O'Higgins as a patriotic reference present in the school commemorations, the social roles assigned by the school curriculum to the women who participated in the patriot cause, among others.
To promote the competences of historical thought in the research carried out, a historical laboratory was set up where students simulated the work of the historian with the aim of analyzing, under the teacher's guidance, various sources of information and preparing the products associated with the ABP, among which, for this particular case,  the preparation of a report, the formulation of a didactic and exposure of their respective simulation class are taking into account.
Within the consigned historical laboratory, the future professors had to apply the following four heuristics:

  1. Heuristic of origin, taking into account where the historical document comes from and its purpose.
  2. Contextualization, in order to place the document in its temporal and spatial context.
  3. Closed reading, to extract the main idea from the document.
  4. Heuristic corroboration, to compare multiple sources.

Design of the didactic proposal

The students elaborated or a didactic proposal that should allow teaching the investigated problems from a pedagogical and disciplinary, innovative and constructivist approach.

Class simulation

Based on the didactic proposal developed, one of the members of each team proceeded to carry out a class simulation with the main results of the research. The  simulation must lie on audiovisual material, respect the structure of the class and not exceed 30 minutes.

During the development of the ABP, classes have intended to guide and provide feedback on the work done by students. Thus, it favored the autonomous and cooperative learning of the student through the implementation of activities seeking such purpose.

The different tasks envisaged in the ABP, in addition to the pedagogical resources designed (presentations, work guides and evaluation instruments) by the students themselves to improve their performance, and provided most of the inputs that were attached as evidence in the digital portfolio. In this instrument there were also collected activities diagnosis and consolidation of learning, as the KPSI and critical reflection group of info graphics analyzed and the Puzzle will be implemented.

In the portfolio, each group should also detail the learning achieved by preparing a brief written reflection for each attached evidence. In addition, the instrument appropriated a section on self - assessment, where future teachers' annexed daily class was completed throughout the entire sequence to reflect on its own process of learning. Lastly, it is important to note that the portfolio included a co evaluation item, where students, through a checklist provided by the teacher, evaluated the performance of their classmates in the different activities that were included in the proposal.

Evaluation of teaching unit

The evaluation of the implemented proposal is based on the information provided by the following inputs:

Digital Portfolio: It gave the necessary information for monitoring and evaluating the learning process of each team.

Attendance Register: It gave feeding data   to verify the degree of commitment and physical attendance of students during class that appropriated the experience.

Diary of the investigator: This instrument associated with the process of participant observation made during classes, allowed to point, chronologically and systematically, all questions relating to the advantages and limitations of the implemented proposal, the aspects to be consider in future classes and the assessment of the students on the experience.

Rubric: It made possible the assessment of the academic performance achieved by students in the digital portfolio. It has chosen to design and use an analytical rubric (Ponce López et al., 2020), because it is highly effective in analyzing in detail each of the aspects evaluated (organization and updating of content, use of technology, quality and relevance of the evidence, redaction and spelling and reflective capacity).

The evaluative analysis of the proposal was based on a double triangulation, and then resorted to multi method and multiple sources. The multi- method (Carvajal & Carvajal, 2020) allows to develop a phenomenological approach to the context of the experience. For its part, triangulation from multiple sources helps to overcome the epistemic and methodological weaknesses that could arise from the collection of individual information (Delgado & Estepa, 2016). In this way, while in the first triangulation, a hermeneutic analysis is carried out to assess the similarities and differences between the digital portfolios of the course; in the second, the validity of these interpretations is reinforced with the support of the documentary analysis, carried out from the data recorded in the audio recordings and noted by the teacher in the field diary, in the attendance sheet and in the analytical rubric prepared to evaluate the portfolio.

The evaluation of the didactic unit, which is carried out in the next sections, begins with the analysis of the learning obtained in each historical competency studied; then, on the strengths and difficulties of the implemented proposal; finally, in the discussion, interprets the most significant results and raises some reflections on the aspects that should be considered in future interventions.

 

RESULTS 

Firstly, the evaluative analysis of the implemented unit shows that, as shown in Table 4, the students achieved significant learning in the domain of the historical competencies worked on .

Table 4- Significant learning generated at work based on historical skills

Competition

Significant learning evidenced

Historical relevance

  • The students were able to conclude that the invisibility of women in the independence process is a product of the androcentric approach promoted by MINEDUC in the educational system, which, according to the participating subjects, seeks the preservation of patriotic history and the predominance of male role in it.
  • Likewise, they also pointed out that the partial or total exclusion of women in the curriculum only contributes to downplaying their participation in society, which, in the opinion of the group-course, reinforces the prevalence of gender ecotypes that only contribute to the sustained increase in cases of sexual harassment, domestic violence and wage discrimination.
  • Finally, it should be noted that future teachers, by formulating questions about the current situation of gender violence and understanding the patriarchal society of the early nineteenth century in Chile, were able to assess the importance of the facts studied in the present and the implications that it generates  in the  necessary awareness that must exist on the claim of women as historical subject and an active social actor capable of providing asset, along with the man, to the development of the country.

Historical evidence

  • The students understood, effectively , the descriptive typology of different sources and the main operational phases involved in a historical laboratory within the ABP ; all stressed in the key role of this body to lead an  rigorous  investigative process enabling to deliver a possible solution to a given teaching problem  related to the teaching of the processes studied .
  • Similarly, the students could conclude that the correct use of sources in a research paper is the competition best to learn and assimilate, in a practical and meaningful way, the methodology used by the historian to produce historical narratives. This, from the teaching perspective, involves generating a solid epistemological basis so that future teachers, through practical exercises of inquiry, can teach their students to develop a descriptive and heuristic analysis of sources to deal with a specific historical problem.

Historiographical interpretations

  • Thanks to the growing assimilation of this competition, most of the course managed to change its conception of history. Prior to the experience, they classified it as a boring and useless discipline that only consisted of memorizing dates, milestones and characters; however, after the implementation of the proposal, the students began to conceive it as a critical and problematizing social science, since it requires a rigorous contrast and analysis of various historiography interpretations from the researcher to address a certain topic.
  • It should also be noted that all participants agreed that, in spite of the existence of different historic graphical interpretations of the analyzed problem, there is a clear predominance of male - centered narrative in the study of Chilean independence. This approach , according to  a general overview, ignores the otherness of the" other" , that is, the story told from the perspective of women , and reduces the analysis of the expected problems to a simple chronological narrative major milestones They were starred by the " parents " of the homeland .

Ethical dimension of history

  • In addition to what is stated in the previous section, the change conception of history also provoked the students to consider it as a tremendously useful discipline, therefore, following the principle of the ethical dimension of history it is indispensable to understand the complexity of the past and to judge, with responsibility and evidence, the injustices and problems of the facts studied. This, from the teaching perspective, helps students to understand the social meaning of history, which is to promote critical and active citizenship among students. Within this purpose, future teachers said that history should serve to make visible the role of women in the curriculum and combating gender violence and to counteract the negative impact of gender stereotypes in various fields of society.

Uses of history

  • In spite of the good results observed in the domain of the powers provided, it is relevant to note that the participants had some difficulty understanding the uses of history, since it failed to properly understand the forms or methods used by the State to channel that discipline as a vector at the service of the conformation of the national identity and the official justification that is made on controversial events of the past.  However it could be concluded that the curriculum is one of the main means used by the dominant power to preserve the androcentric historical tradition that feeds the invisibility of women in the period studied and their potential impact on gender violence , that takes place in various social spaces such as school, home and work.

On the other hand, it is also important to mention that the implemented proposal was very useful to enhance the values and cultivate the soft skills of future teachers, such as proactivity, collaborative work, positive interdependence and individual and shared responsibility. In fact, most the course agreed that the training instances   most significant  of the proposal to develop such aspects was  the Puzzle  and the ABP, since both methodologies were highly motivating to understand the way in which they are implemented in the classroom and learn the historical discipline in a cooperative, problematizing and dialogical way. For that reason, they proposed the need to continue working based on Puzzle and the ABP, because they have not had the opportunity to perform in these strategies during their university education or implemented them in its progressive practices.

In the same way, it is necessary to point out the high level of commitment and responsibility with which the nine groups held their respective digital portfolios; this can be seen in the fact that all of them complied with the development of the activity. The commitment to the proposal was also manifested in that 38 of the 45 students regularly attended the classes that contemplated the experience.

Regarding the academic performance achieved, the fact that 100 % of the students have passed in the evaluation of the group portfolio, achieving an equal or higher to 4.0 on a scale of 1.0 to 7.0.

However, although most scores of the course were outstanding, it is pertinent to note that the students said, especially in the section on self - assessment, they had been quite complex to perform the exercises for the skill works of second order. Other difficulties pointed out by the students are related to the simulation of class, last instance of the ABP, where the participating subjects had to present the investigated problem and a possible solution to it. Among the main drawbacks stated, we can find the forgetfulness of certain historical supports of the problem, the little scholarly baggage and the insecurity of the students to answer the questions of the classmates and the teacher.

The co evaluation item also showed several relevant problems to mention, since they caused a significant lack of cohesion in teamwork. Some of them were: the failure of a task by a member, the apathy of some colleagues with their peers to establish consensus or seek solutions and repeated absence of three companions that affected the performance of their respective teams during the development of the work.

Since the teacher position, various difficulties that allow finding that the initial training of teachers is focused exclusively on disciplinary component were visualized because it draws attention to the lack of reference literature in the reports and critical reflections contained in all portfolios, Regarding the didactics of history, which leads to the conclusion that, for the study participants, historical knowledge is more important and significant than didactic knowledge.

Also it highlights the case of six groups that make constant references to concepts of first and second order; however, they are not able to analyze the psychological processes related to the skills of the historic thought.

Other shortcomings observed by the researcher are related with the management of the ICT in the process of development of the interactive resources used in the didactic proposal and in the simulation class corresponding to the ABP. Among the main problems ascertained is located n the one hand, the lack of creativity to design new resources based on the s ICT, as most of the participating subjects were based on the proposals taught by the teacher; and, on the other, the succinct reflection made by the training teachers about the limitations and potential of the technologies, to promote the development of historical competences in the students.

Regarding the latter, it highlighted the case of two groups that used in simulation class a Jeopardy of history, inspired in the test "Who wants to be a millionaire". Its dynamic game consisted of a question and answer race among the students of the course. All the questions raised by the two teams were related with concepts of the first order and involved basically Biography of important female figures, who contributed to the Chilean emancipation, such as: the date and city of birth, concrete contribution she had within the patriot circle and the year and place of death of the person consulted. In this way , the questions associated with the analysis of sources or that encouraged critical reflection on the invisibility of women in the Chilean independence process were completely suppressed .

It should also be noted that the activity mentioned   promoted operant conditioning in the behavior of three students, as they used to participate only by the positive reinforcing of the  reward given by the exhibitor, when answering correctly the most quantity of questions.

 

DISCUSSION

Although the experience generated positive results in the historical and pedagogical learning of the students, it is important to reflect on the main problems found to visualize the aspects that must be safeguarded in future interventions.

The few concern for the didactic know, evidenced  in all portfolios, and the zero analysis from six groups with respect to the psychological processes involved the work - based on historical competencies are  of great interest that must invite  the professor to improve his teaching strategy in the classroom , since other studies (Voet & De Wever, 2016; González Valencia  et al., 2020) on innovation experiences, developed in similar university contexts, confirm the presence of the same stated problems.

To overcome these difficulties, it is important that university teachers, as pointed out by Porta Vázquez et al. (2019), must be able to go beyond making history or thinking historically by themselves, since their priority should be to help others learn the art and how it is constructed and taught. Therefore, it is essential that the teachers of the specialty use logic, both pedagogical and historical, when designing problems of history and taking into account the context in which their students learn the discipline.

Another issue that powerfully drew attention of the results was that the use of technologies within the experience had an enough reflective sense from students, which he helped them to understand and overcome the difficulties observed, mainly, in the two groups that used the history jeopardy in the class simulation. Following a López Filardo (2020), it is important that the empirical contributions, as the present study may contribute to a greater knowledge and understanding of the relationships existing between the pedagogical use of ICT s and teaching of history. Similarly, it is a key that may foster the development of a teaching of the specialty that allows generating educational practices truly innovative.

We are fully aware of all the difficulties mentioned, which, from the teaching perspective, will require a greater effort to work more frequently in activities where students can enhance their historical thinking and improve their social skills. In addition, in order to mitigate the observed limitations, it is important to protect the following aspects in future interventions: the academic overload of the students, the little interest of some students in the subject and / or the strategies worked on, the little knowledge that exists about the majority of the topics approached  and the difficult access to primary sources to investigate selected issues within the framework of the ABP.

In this sense, it is essential that university teachers, dedicated to the training of future history teachers, first of all, review the pedagogical and disciplinary approaches that guide their teaching activity; second, it must be capable of creating various opportunities in the classroom for students to become aware of the way in which andocentric history originates and reproduces; And finally, it is important to focus on building alternative narratives that question the injustices and abuses produced in past and present societies.

Similarly, and following some of the reflections that the students pointed out within their digital portfolio, it is of great importance that the university teacher can, through their own practices and through different didactic mechanisms, transmit emotions, passions and vital senses of the profession, so that future teachers are inspired and can catch the pedagogical vocation that is needed to be a good teacher.

Due to the results achieved, despite the problems that might arouse, the students, through their participation in innovation proposals such as this, can achieve to change their negative conception about the history and be able to meet and apply the necessary skills to think, in historical perspective, the present in function of the past.

The possibility of generating such significant learning increases considerably when working on the basis of controversial themes , as the study the Chilean independence from the gender perspective, since its analysis , for this particular experience , involved  a reflective process necessary to rethink the teaching and learning of history, which should allow to question the traditional historiography paradigm and the university magistrocentrism and make room for the practice of innovative and constructivist disciplinary and pedagogical currents .

 

Acknowledgements

This work is part of the NI- EDU Project 02/2020 "The use of Problem Based Learning (ABP) in the teaching of history. Potentialities, problems and challenges", attached to PI FID USC 1897 of the Faculty of Education of the Catholic University of the Holy Conception, Chile. The sponsoring institution is thanked for the support given.

 

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Conflict of interest:

Authors declare not to have any conflict of interest.

 

Authors´ Contribution:

Authors participated in the writting process of this article and in the analysis of documents.

 


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