Programas internacionales de evaluación de competencias: estado de arte y ejemplo de evaluación de la competencia científica a un grupo de alumnos de Bachillerato del IES San Isidro

Abstract

El tema del presente Trabajo Fin de Máster es la evaluación de la competencia científica. Aprovechando un período de prácticas en el IES San Isidro de Madrid se ha llevado a cabo el diseño y desarrollo de una unidad didáctica sobre materiales, tema comprendido en el currículo de la asignatura de Ciencias para el Mundo Contemporáneo, y se ha evaluado la competencia científica de los alumnos de 1º de bachillerato nocturno al finalizar la unidad didáctica mencionada anteriormente, empleando para ello algunos de los ítems liberados de las pruebas PISA de ciencias 2006. A efectos meramente didácticos e instructivos se han comparado los resultados obtenidos con los publicados por el Instituto Nacional de Evaluación Educativa (INEE).

Basic competences are a suitable mechanism for the development of the key life skills (Yus, 2011). Among these skills, we could cite the scientific skills, which imply the understanding of scientific concepts such as the capacity of applying a scientific perspective based on empirical data. The most current widespread approach emphasizes the development of the student’s capacity to solve situations based on the application of a general principle as opposed to the traditional approach which supply prefabricated conceptions to the students in order to memorize (Aizpun, 2007). The necessary to design and implement an appropriate teaching units according to these competences, will be necessary to develop an assessment system for them (Yus, 2011). The evaluation of competences that have been carried out by the OCDE corresponding to the year 2012 have just been published: Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competences (PIAAC) (Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte [MECD], 2013a, 2013b). The results have sparked some debate about the public education system (MECD, 2013c), especifically in the fields related to the acquisition of mathematical, reading and scientific competences (INEE, 2013a). It is a current topic nowadays, as it is showed in the articles published by the media. It underlines some underperforms compared to other countries that have participated in the above tests, in terms of skills (math, reading and science) and problem solving (RTVE, 2013, ABC, 2014). The evaluation of competences is an interest topic for the author of this Master Publication. For this reason, It was a great opportunity to evaluate the scientific skills of the 1st bachillerato students during the teaching period at IES San Isidro, taking into account that the author was involved in the design of a didactical unit about material physics, following the corresponding Science syllabus in the IES San Isidro of Madrid. Some available scientific items from the official PISA 2006 test have been used for this assessment (INEE, 2013b). Regarding an educational purpose, the results obtained herein where compared with those that have been published by the INEE (INEE, 2010, 2013c).