La evaluación auténtica abre nuevas perspectivas a una de las tareas docentes más complejas y difíciles de desarrollar, como es el caso de la evaluación de los aprendizajes de los alumnos. En este trabajo se presenta una revisión teórica de los principios fundamentales que rodean esta concepción de evaluación, que trata de consolidarse como un enfoque alternativo al enfoque tradicional de la evaluación y –por extensión– al de enseñanza y aprendizaje. Asimismo, se identifican algunos principios evaluativos acordes con esta perspectiva, en aras de facilitar al profesorado el diseño de tareas auténticas con las que evaluar los alcances y logros de sus estudiantes.

A través de este trabajo, presentamos nuestro modelo de diseño, desarrollo y evaluación de Unidades Didácticas Integradas (UDIs), describiendo todas y cada una de sus diferentes fases. Del mismo modo, exploramos sus potencialidades en la construcción de un currículo cimentado sobre los supuestos de la Integración Curricular. Se trata de un modelo que surge de un proceso de investigación llevado a cabo en diferentes centros educativos. Nuestro propósito último es, precisamente, tratar de llegar a un mayor número de profesores, maestros y educadores con el fin de que, tras su lectura, sean capaces de utilizarlo e implementarlo en diferentes escenarios.

The purpose of this work is to find out the students’ perception of the level of development of competences in the area of Social Sciences, Geography, and History. It has been developed taking into account what has been learned in the area, the level of difficulty for its acquisition, the assessment tools, and the transfer to a real situation. The development of a scale—original and unprecedented—called Evaluation of the Perception of Competences from the Social Sciences (EPECOSICO) has allowed, through a descriptive and quantitative study of validation of the instrument with an intentional sampling, to know the opinion of more than 1400 students of 4th year of secondary education (Spain). The instrument used presents good psychometric attributes, emphasizing the balanced characterization, considering that the number of students is similar (51%, 49%), the confidentiality and the validity. Finally, a KMO higher than 0.9 indicates high reliability in the consistency of the instrument used.

This work presents the results of research whose main objective was to analyze the sources present in Geography and History textbooks used in Spain and Italy in secondary education, as well as how they were designed for use by the teaching staff of this subject. This research was carried out for the benefit of teachers and for the improvement of the teaching-learning process. The sample was configured on the basis of a rigorous analysis of textbooks belonging to relevant publishers in Spain and Italy, whose selection was made using a quantitative and descriptive research method based on the interpretative paradigm, with the help of an SPSS statistical program. As for the main results obtained, the data indicated that the tasks requested from students (based on the use or analysis of sources) are of a low cognitive level, which makes it difficult to learn critical and reflective historical thinking. Finally, it was concluded that for students to strengthen the development and acquisition of critical thinking, the use of textbooks must be integrated with other, more active resources and more participatory teaching strategies, putting both competency-based teaching and its assessment in quarantine.

The aim of this work is to find out the perception that students in 4th year compulsory secondary education have of the teaching of key competences, as well as the possibility these have of being transferred to a real, everyday situation, according to what they have learned in the subject of Geography and History. For this, an intentional sample was configured in which more than 1400 subjects from 4th year of secondary education (in Spain) have participated, with a level of significance of 0.05 using a scale—original and unpublished—called (EPECOCISO—Evaluation of the Perception of Social Science Competences). It is a quantitative descriptive study in which—through an exploratory factorial analysis—factors 1, 2, and 3 have been selected for the realization of a descriptive study. Subsequently, correlation between factors has been established through the Pearson test and between the different variables that make up each one of them with the socio-demographic variables (distinguishing between ordinal and nominal variables), through the chi-square independence test and Cramer’s V test (nominal) and the linearity test and Goodman’s and Kruskal’s Gamma test (ordinal). Finally, it can be concluded that a methodology based and organized around the development of critical thinking facilitates the acquisition of contents and competences, as well as allowing students to detect the possibility of transferring them and putting them into practice in a real situation that can be presented.

En esta investigación, financiada por varias entidades, hemos diseñado un instrumento que permite conocer la percepción que tienen los estudiantes universitarios de Educación Física sobre las personas con síndrome de Down. Al instrumento lo hemos denominado escala de Pecepción Social hacia las personas con síndrome de Down EPSD-1, y en su diseño se recogen importantes variables psicosociales, al tiempo que se busca dar cuenta de sus propiedades para aplicarla a otros contextos. Tras un análisis factorial, ofrecemos diez grandes factores que abordan temas como la exclusión social de las personas con síndrome de Down, su autonomía e independencia, sus relaciones afectivo-sexuales, su aceptación social y educativa, su integración, la actitud familiar, la formación docente y el proteccionismo social hacia estas personas. La muestra inicial la componen 1.796 participantes y los resultados indican que se trata de un instrumento fiable y válido para su aplicación. Esta escala resulta de gran utilidad en el ámbito de las Ciencias Sociales, ofreciendo una relación latente con respecto a la formación inicial que, desde la universidad, se ofrece a los estudiantes universitarios. Mediante una metodología cuantitativa, los resultados muestran que sus propiedades psicométricas son altamente satisfactorias, motivo por el cual sugerimos realizar nuevos estudios longitudinales y transversales a partir de su uso aplicado a diferentes poblaciones, con objeto de profundizar sobre la percepción social hacia las personas con síndrome de Down, aportando datos sobre la tendencia y evolución al respecto en los últimos años. In this research, which was financed by several institutions, we have designed an instrument that allows us to know the perception that university students of Physical Education have of people with Down syndrome. We have called this instrument the scale of Social Perception of people with Down syndrome EPSD-1, and in its design important psychosocial variables are recognized, whilst trying to discuss its properties in order to apply it to other contexts. Based on an analysis of factors, we offer ten main factors that deal with issues such as the social exclusion of people with Down syndrome, their autonomy and independence, their affective-sexual relations, their social and educational acceptance, their integration, their family attitudes, teacher education, and the social protectionism of these people. The initial sample is composed of 1.796 participants, and the results indicate that the scale devised here is a reliable and valid instrument in its application. This scale can be of great value for the Social Sciences, offering a latent relation with respect to the initial education which, since the university, is offered to students of higher education. Using a quantitative methodology, the results show that the psychometric properties of the scale are highly satisfactory, prompting us to suggest the conduction of new longitudinal and transversal studies using it to different populations with the purpose of furthering our knowledge of the social perception of people with Down syndrome, and of bringing out new facts about the tendency and evolution of these theme during the last years