Scientific competencies around the study of physics in secondary school students. A review of knowledge

Abstract

This research seeks to analyze the degree of promotion and development of scientific competences based on the document Basic Standards of Competences in Natural Sciences proposed by the Ministerio de Educación Nacional, Colombia, specifically the competences associated with Physics. To this end, a twenty-item questionnaire is designed with a dichotomous response scale. The reliability analysis showed that the proposed scale had a good internal consistency regarding the measurement of scientific competences. The research adopts a quantitative descriptive approach based on the processing of data provided by 87 students from a private educational institution with emphasis on natural sciences in the city of San José de Cúcuta and enrolled between the ninth and eleventh grades. The results identify as a weakness in the teaching process, that teachers do not promote the use and articulation of diverse registers of semiotic representation of a set of data, a situation that limits the process of reasoning and resolution of problematic situations in everyday scenarios where the concepts of physics are present. Likewise, it was observed as a strength that teachers promote attitudinal skills in their students based on mutual respect, cooperative work and good communication. This type of research expands the knowledge that is available on the process of developing scientific competencies in the courses prior to entering higher education, so it is suggested to replicate this research process in students from different social contexts in order to improve the robustness of the questionnaire and provide valuable information to educational institutions on the design of improvement plans.