We present a study carried out with 16-year-old students in Spain using a problem-based learning approach as a pedagogical mode to develop science skills. The main objective of this work was to analyze the development of science skills through an inquiry process in class. The data were collected through audio and video recordings. The students were given the freedom to choose a problem to solve, and they decided on a near-environmental problem to research. They suggested a research question, formulated a hypothesis, designed experiments, observed, collected data, and searched for information. The teacher acted as a facilitator of resources. Finally, the students communicated the results obtained in their inquiry process. They performed all the above while asking themselves questions they had to answer during the course of the project, which increased in depth as the work evolved. The results of this research present PBL as an optimal methodology to develop scientific skills, such as inquiry practice, by means of asking questions.

The aim of this study has been the design and evaluation of a sequence of activities that promotes the development of scientific skills in secondary school. For this purpose, design-based research was conducted using a problem-solving methodology to learn as a tool to engage in scientific inquiry practice. The research was structured around the design, implementation, and evaluation phases, with specific tools created to assess both student learning outcomes and the validity of the TLS. These tools helped identify the performance levels achieved by students in the various stages of scientific inquiry, from formulating hypotheses to interpreting data, and also allowed for the evaluation of the teaching methodology’s effectiveness. The results indicated that the TLS significantly enhanced students’ scientific competence by promoting skills related to scientific inquiry, such as hypothesis formulation, variable identification, observation, data collection, and interpretation. Additionally, the use of a weather station as the central topic provided a context closely tied to the students’ local environment, which facilitated deeper engagement and understanding. The evaluation revealed that students progressed in their scientific inquiry skills, moving from “pre-scientific” to “uncertain inquirer” performance levels. While challenges such as initial disorientation and difficulties in representing experimental data were observed, the overall performance of students demonstrated the success of the TLS. Furthermore, the students worked collaboratively, contributing their individual skills and experiences to achieve group goals. This study provides valuable insights into the potential of TLS as an alternative to traditional teaching methods, offering an innovative way to assess and enhance students’ scientific skills. It also highlights the importance of teacher guidance in inquiry-based activities and suggests that future projects could benefit from allowing students to choose the topic, further enhancing their motivation and engagement.

This article presents research designed along one scholar course with first-year pre-schoolers in Spain. A coherent sequence of learning activities, that combined classroom work with working outside the classroom (in the school garden), was designed in order to analyse if the first-year-preschool children were able to apply scientific tools, including the magnifying glass and dichotomous key to observe, compare, classify and identify small animals within their surroundings. The results obtained show that using a magnifying glass, pupils learned to observe in an intentional way to, by means of counting the number of wings and legs and the colour of small animals, compare small animals. The comparison criteria they established based on this observation and comparison, were used to classify and identify other animals by using a dichotomous key. The results show that the students struggled to use keys; thus, help from the teacher was necessary to develop scientific skills as observe, compare, classify and identify.

Las simulaciones, junto con la observación y la experimentación real, suponen una herramienta de gran valor en el aprendizaje de las ciencias. En este sentido, el profesorado de ciencias destaca por su compromiso con el uso de los mismos, sin embargo, presentan dificultades en el uso a través de sus secuencias de enseñanza. Las actitudes, junto con el conocimiento y la percepción sobre la herramienta y su uso, son un factor decisivo en la voluntad del docente para usarlos. Por ello, se plantea una investigación contextualizada en el estudio de caso, en la que se pretenden conocer y analizar las percepciones de 11 docentes de ciencias en activo, de las etapas de educación primaria y secundaria. Se han recogido datos a través de un cuestionario estructurado y una entrevista personal, para analizar las percepciones sobre el uso de simuladores en el aula, en torno a: a) el proceso de aprendizaje del alumnado; b) el proceso de enseñanza del profesorado; c) las posibilidades didácticas de los simuladores. Los resultados muestran que el profesorado percibe los simuladores como una herramienta útil para el desarrollo de la competencia científica del alumnado. Para conseguir un uso más habitual de esta herramienta, demandan una formación específica que les ayude a diseñar secuencias de actividades en torno a contenidos concretos.

The latest studies show that to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals on education, there must be a focus on adequately training higher education students. In this work, we present a study about the Life Cycle Analysis of knowledge of products and processes of engineering students. This aspect is very relevant in engineering education since it has direct implications on sustainability. The first step was to identify what the learning problems were, and taking them into account, a specific teaching sequence was designed and implemented over three academic years. Two activities, on an increasing level of complexity, of the application of Life Cycle Assessment are shown in this paper. The first one is the Life Cycle Analysis comparison between two steel and polypropylene pieces. The second one is the Life Cycle Analysis comparison between three different ends of life of a polypropylene piece: mechanical recycling, incineration, and landfill. Data on the evolution of students’ marks while solving a “one step more difficult project” throughout these courses have been collected. The results show a generalized learning by the students about Life Cycle Analysis.

The scientific competence of secondary school students is evaluated every three years through the PISA tests. The results of the last three reports show deficiencies in this competence, which should be developed in the classroom through a competence-based and contextualized teaching of science. However, there are still few teachers who guide their teaching in this way, in many cases due to lack of knowledge on how to approach it and, in many others, due to the lack of tools to assess student learning through competencies. In this research, we have designed a specific teaching-learning sequence, in which a weather station is used as a vehicular instrument, with the aim of developing scientific competence through guided inquiry. To assess the development of said competence, two ad hoc rubrics have been designed, which may be useful for other teachers and/or researchers. Data was collected through audio and video recordings throughout an academic year. The results were analyzed through the rubrics designed for this purpose, and it was concluded that the designed sequence greatly facilitates the development of scientific competence, specifically favors the students to be competent, on the one hand, in the evaluation and design of scientific investigations and in the interpretation of tests and data and, on the other hand, favors the depth of their procedural and epistemic knowledge. La competencia científica del alumnado de educación secundaria se evalúa cada tres años a través de las pruebas PISA. Los resultados de los últimos tres informes muestran carencias en dicha competencia, que debería desarrollarse en las aulas a través de una enseñanza de las ciencias, competencial y contextualizada. Sin embargo, todavía son pocos los/as docentes que orientan así su docencia, en muchos casos debido a la falta de conocimiento sobre cómo plantearla y, en otros muchos, a la falta de herramientas para evaluar el aprendizaje del alumnado a través de competencias. En esta investigación, hemos diseñado una secuencia de enseñanza aprendizaje específica, en la que se utiliza como instrumento vehicular una estación meteorológica, con el objetivo de desarrollar la competencia científica a través de indagación guiada. Para evaluar el desarrollo de dicha competencia, se han diseñado dos rúbricas ad hoc, que pueden ser de utilidad para otros docentes y/o investigadores. Se recogieron datos a través de grabaciones de audio y vídeo a lo largo de un curso académico. Los resultados se analizaron a través de las rúbricas diseñadas a tal efecto, y se concluyó que la secuencia diseñada facilita en gran medida el desarrollo de la competencia científica, concretamente favorece que el alumnado sea competente, por un lado, en la evaluación y diseño de investigaciones científicas y en la interpretación de pruebas y datos y, por otro lado, favorece la profundidad en su conocimiento procedimental y epistémico.