La incorporación de la indagación científica en las aulas rurales plantea importantes desafíos para los docentes que la orientan. En el presente artículo se analiza la importancia del rol del docente en una actividad de indagación científica. Para ello, se realizó el análisis del caso de la Mitigación de la mosquita blanca en árboles de ficus, una experiencia indagatoria llevada a cabo con 22 estudiantes de sexto a octavo año de Educación General Básica de una escuela rural vulnerable en Chile. Los resultados respaldan que los aprendizajes de los estudiantes a través de la indagación demandan una orientación y apoyo adecuados por parte del docente. Asimismo, se revela que la investigación científica escolar puede emerger en contextos rurales poco favorecidos a través de la indagación. Palabras clave: Rol Docente; Indagación Científica; Escuela Rural; Educación en Ciencias; Educación Básica. Teacher’s role and scientific inquiry: Analysis of an experience about pests in a Chilean rural school The incorporation of the scientific inquiry in rural science classrooms brings up important challenges for the teachers leading them. This current paper analyzes the importance of the teacher’s role in a scientific inquiry activity. Therefore, an analysis was carried out in the case of the Mitigation of the whitefly in the ficus tree. This inquiring experience was applied with 22 sixth to eighth grade elementary students from a vulnerable rural school in Chile. The main results support that the students’ learning through inquiry demands a guidance and an adequate support offered by the teacher. Besides, the case study shows how the inquiry-based science education can emerge from deprived rural contexts through inquiry. Keywords: Teaching Role; Scientific Inquiry; Rural School; Science Education; Elementary School.

INTRODUCCIÓN. A partir de tres perfiles de estudiantes diferentes (con aspiraciones efímeras, aspiraciones vocacionales y estudiantes de segunda carrera) se indaga en los factores motivacionales y de percepción que inciden en el proceso de elección de carreras de pedagogía en universitarios chilenos. MÉTODO. El estudio se realizó a través de un análisis cualitativo, que considera 23 entrevistas semi-estructuradas y un grupo de discusión. Los datos fueron analizados bajo la perspectiva teórica de la elección de carrera y de las motivaciones para ser profesor. RESULTADOS. Los resultados muestran ciertas similitudes en cada una de las etapas del proceso de elección de carrera, pero también importantes diferencias en cuanto a las percepciones sobre la profesión docente y a las variables motivacionales que llevan a los estudiantes a elegir la carrera pedagógica, en el caso de los estudiantes con aspiraciones vocacionales y de segunda carrera, o a optar por otra carrera, en el caso de los estudiantes con aspiraciones efímeras. CONCLUSIÓN. Destaca la influencia de los centros educativos en la elección por seguir o no una carrera pedagógica y la incidencia que ejercen en esta decisión y en las percepciones de los estudiantes, las opiniones de familiares, profesores y pares. Se aprecia en los estudiantes una predominancia de las motivaciones altruistas e intrínsecas, por sobre las motivaciones extrínsecas.

The motivation shown by teachers in the early stages of their professional development affects their future professional competence and adaptability to an occupational setting. This study explores the motivational variables that affect satisfaction with choosing a degree in pedagogy in Chile by comparing teachers in training with in-service teachers. A quantitative non-experimental and correlational–explanatory design was used, surveying 758 participants (328 teachers in training and 430 in-service teachers) using the FIT-Choice questionnaire. Results reveal that intrinsic motivations, such as the desire to work with children, teenagers, and previous teaching experiences, have a strong positive correlation with satisfaction in both groups. This reveals the importance of encouraging and strengthening practical experience in initial teacher training. Furthermore, the differences in the value of job security and social contribution reflect the evolution of motivation from initial teacher training up to professional practice.

Professional education increasingly requires graduates to make decisions in complex systems marked by multiple stakeholders, feedback, delays, uncertainty, and unintended consequences, yet systems thinking is still often taught as a set of disconnected tools rather than as an integrated professional practice. This conceptual paper adopts an integrative theory-building approach to develop a unified architecture for systems thinking in professional education, drawing purposively on systems traditions, practice-based learning, assessment scholarship, and emerging work on generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). The paper proposes four iterative practices (sensemaking and boundary setting, co-modelling and causal representation, intervention reasoning, and meta-learning) as the core architecture for learning systems thinking in professional contexts. It further translates this architecture into indicative implications for curriculum sequencing, authentic tasks, and assessment, while positioning GenAI as a cross-cutting support/risk layer that can assist iteration and critique but also introduce predictable risks such as fabricated causal links, overreliance, and false mastery. To address these risks, the paper outlines governance conditions based on traceability, uncertainty checks, stakeholder validation, and process-based assessment. Overall, the framework provides a design-oriented basis for teaching, assessing, and governing systems thinking in contemporary professional education and a foundation for future empirical testing.

The teaching of natural sciences in complex school contexts, such as border and peripheral zones, faces challenges linked to curricular relevance, teacher preparation, and structural conditions. This study explored the professional demands of elementary teachers in northern Chile through four focus groups with 21 in-service teachers from rural and urban schools in the tri-border region. Thematic analysis revealed challenges including limited disciplinary training, scarce resources, reduced instructional time, and pressure from standardized tests. Enabling factors included the natural environment, students’ experiential knowledge, and interdisciplinary integration. Findings stress the need for situated teacher education policies responsive to territorial realities.