Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

La deuteración de compuestos orgánicos ha contribuido a varios campos del conocimiento científico, como la química analítica, médica, orgánica y de polímeros. En este manuscrito se resumen los conceptos de efectos isotópicos cinéticos, síntesis de compuestos deuterados y principales aplicaciones de la deuteración para obtener un breve artículo que sirva para enseñar ciencias multidisciplinarias a estudiantes de química. 

Se presenta una hoja didáctica para introducir conceptos y modelos químicos relacionados con los procesos catalíticos en forma de un reto atractivo para los estudiantes de distintos grados de secundaria a bachillerato. De forma general se considera el uso de actividades que permita al estudiante explorar su entorno y vincularlo con los temas revisados en clase de química.

   This work seeks to help teachers and researchers to understand the three-dimensional approach to science teaching. This through the exposition of the meaning and intention of each dimension of the 3D approach and the proposal of an activity with said approach, for the teaching of the topic of periodicity. A brief analysis of the differences between the new Chemistry III curriculum (proposed in 2017 for the ENP) and the 3D perspective of the NRC is presented. Which, despite the reduction of topics, retains a traditional approach in which the dimensions of the three-dimensional approach (central concepts (DCI’s), transversal concepts (CCC’s) and scientific practices (SEP’s)) are not considered. After presenting and making a comparative analysis, it is introduced an activity that seeks to show how to implement this 3D approach in the chemistry classrooms of the baccalaureate. Particularly in this activity, students are introduced to the situation in which Medeleyev put the cards of the elements in order. In this case, the elements are fictitious, but they are related to the elements of the current table. In the activity, the following components are developed for each dimension: Structure and properties of matter (DCI’s); modeling (SEP’s); Structure and function, Patterns, similarity, and diversity (CCC’s). The activity is a proposal to be tested with high school students. 

   After introducing the work of art known as Retablo de la Independencia, painted by the Mexican muralist Juan O’Gorman in 1961, this article highlights how it can be used as an educational and outreach resource that unites art, history and science. Specifically, the painting, which represents the Mexican independence movement, features, among many others, portraits of Fausto Delhuyar, Andrés Manuel del Río and Alexander von Humboldt. These personages can be used, for example, to highlight their role in the discovery of the chemical elements wolfram or tungsten (by the first one, together with his brother Juan José) and erythronium (later known as vanadium) by the work of del Río, although in this case, it would take three decades for the discovery to be verified due to the wrong mediation of the naturalist von Humboldt. 

The main purpose of this research, which was carried out at the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD), San Francisco de Macorís Campus, was to carry out a comparative study of the cognitive competencies of students of the Bachelor’s Degree in Biology and Chemistry, specifically in Semesters 2020-10 and 2020-20, of the subjects Basic and General Chemistry, respectively. For this purpose, a statistical analysis was made with the SPSS program of the following dimensions: 1) Attitude in the teaching process, 2) Manifestation of emotions, 3) Empathy, and 4) Learning conditions. The design applied was based on the non-experimental and transversal quantitative paradigm, whose instrument for obtaining information was the survey. This is a quantitative research report. The results indicate that the students strengthened their cognitive and motivational competences as a result of the laboratory practices. As conclusions, there was an increase in the averages between the first and third quarters. 

   The electronic configuration diagrams are schemes that allow explaining some properties of the elements in the periodic table, considering the movement and filling of electrons in the orbitals according to the rules of Hund, to understand concepts at the electronic level such as electronegativity, shielding effect of electrons, ionization energy, and effective nuclear charge, among others. The main objective is that, from the active and meaningful learning, the students can make accessible such an abstract and complex system from the work in the classroom in their know-how, for this they use egg boxes as recyclable material that will represent the orbitals and ping-pong balls to represent electrons as a corpuscular model. This model is applied in classrooms to explain numerical data of the ionization energy as periodic property that one wishes to understand. The models were well assimilated for the sample of students evaluated and allowed to generate discussions within the classroom, argumentative spaces and description of models or prediction of models under a group didactic conceptualization. 

   We present and discuss the meta-theoretical and methodological guidelines of an innovative experience that introduces the history of science and philosophy of science in chemistry didactics courses in the initial training of secondary school teachers. The aim is to promote and develop a more comprehensive, interesting, and valuable vision of the production of knowledge in this disciplinary field of science, in the face of the current and diverse challenges imposed by a new culture of science teaching. The results reveal an interesting reflection on how the formative and theoretical orientation of teachers contributes to a more humane view of chemistry, its teaching and learning. 

   The development and validation of a low-cost Arduino-based electrochemical kit is reported, and an example of application in the classroom is presented with results for the investigation of graphite pencils used as electrodes in the reduction of the proton in acetic acid medium. Potentiometry, voltammetry, and chronoamperometry can be performed, so it works as potentiometer and potentiostat. Due to its design of electrical circuit blocks, and with the support of the use of simulations and short tutorials, the kits can be built by students who have not received formal training in electronics. 

Cada vez es más evidente un cambio en el discurso de los autores en didáctica de la química e investigación educativa. Quizás sea el resultado natural de la creciente exposición a una narrativa educativa que se quiere distanciar cada vez más de la memorización como último nivel de aprendizaje, o porque la tecnología y el libre acceso al conocimiento en la internet han retado al modelo tradicional de transmisión de conocimiento que se perpetuó en las escuelas durante los últimos cien años. Los autores introducen frases como “el mundo real de los estudiantes” cuando sugieren cambiar el tipo de experiencias de aprendizaje que se abordan en las aulas, llevándonos a preguntar si el mundo escolar es algo que “no es real”, o es que acaso estamos cuestionando la realidad a la que la ciencia empirista dice tener acceso, o ¿a qué se refiere dicha realidad? De acuerdo con Berger y Luckmann (1968), probablemente sería mejor decir “la realidad de la vida cotidiana o el conocimiento que orienta la conducta en la vida cotidiana”. “La vida cotidiana se presenta como una realidad interpretada por los hombres y que para ellos tiene el significado subjetivo de un mundo coherente” (Berger y Luckmann, 1968, p.34), la “suprema realidad”. Es decir, antes de que a los individuos se nos enseñe en las escuelas lo que conviene aprendamos acerca de la ciencia, y de la química en particular, ya tenemos una interpretación del mundo que ha sido mediada por el lenguaje, las interacciones con los objetos del entorno y dentro de una red de relaciones humanas. De igual manera, la realidad de la vida cotidiana tiene para los individuos diferentes grados de “interés”, que vienen determinados por la proximidad espacial y temporal. El aquí y el ahora de mi mundo cotidiano es más interesante que lo que sé que existe, pero no he “vivido de cerca”, y tampoco tengo muchas expectativas de hacerlo, o que se percibe muy lejos en el tiempo, y que probablemente no llegue a ver.