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

The Modular Leveling Program for first-year students (Pre-UCR Project) is a project sponsored by the Teaching Vice-Rectory (VD) and the Pacific Headquarters Teaching Coordination (CDSP) of the University of Costa Rica (UCR) aimed at the student population that in 2022 enters the UCR for the first time. The Pre-UCR Project intends, as a purpose, to allow first-year students an early approach to UCR, as well as to offer them useful and essential tools for their future academic and professional training. Six were the areas to be taken into consideration in this project, namely: Academic Research, Soft Skills, Mathematical Skills, Reading Comprehension, Oral English and Logical Thinking. As conclusions, it is shown that in a random sample of 100 students, all of them expressed the need to continue with the project and extrapolate it to all the UCR Headquarters and Campuses. Likewise, all the respondents expressed the importance and relevance that the Modular Leveling Program for first-year students has for their future professional lives.

The manufacture of paper throughout the world has had very negative repercussions on the environment in general due to the raw material used in the activity. Given that paper is one of the most consumed products, the effects of its manufacture are what motivate this problem. In accordance with this, as an environmentally friendly alternative for the manufacture of paper, the Pistia Stratiotes plant is now known as an excellent source of raw material for that purpose and without harmful effects such as those mentioned. In the present analysis, the observation in tests is used by means of trial and error, the necessary adjustments are made and finally a compact and tenacious product is obtained for all conventional use. In addition to demonstrating the quality of this paper according to the exposed characteristics, in the results it can be evidenced as an additional attribute that it is not flammable, an important characteristic because it generates other investigations on the use of this raw material for the elaboration of other products. In conclusion of what has been said so far, it can be stated that the tests show that it is indeed possible to produce paper with better conditions based on the Pistia Stratiotes plant, although there are still no studies that allow scientifically establishing, for example, the repercussions that it could have the extraction of the plant from natural tributaries such as rivers. Therefore, and so it should be clarified, the current ones are results of an investigative nature that do not yet correspond to proposals for the exploitation of the plant.

In March 2020 Costa Rica declared a state of emergency throughout the national territory because of the spread of COVID-19, since then, actions have been implemented to prevent its spread. These measures have particularly impacted SMEs. Knowing the level of impact, product of the health measures suffered by the SMEs of Guápiles de Pococí is the objective of this research. At the methodological level, an exploratory and descriptive study was developed. For this purpose, a survey was carried out through a digital survey that was sent to a total of 76 SMEs in the area with the purpose of characterizing and identifying from their own perception the impact of the pandemic on the operation and continuity of business. Among the main results, it was possible to identify that: i) there is a gender balance among the owners, ii) the enterprises mostly correspond to micro-enterprises with more than five years of existence and iii) the majority of the companies that made direct sales suffered effects in them, they made combinations to deal with the crisis with reductions in payroll, working hours and suspension of contracts. It is concluded that the health measures implemented have significantly impacted the business sector, particularly in the levels of sales, employability, capacity to deal with debts, relationship with suppliers and use of resources to provide continuity in the operation. The importance of defining public policies aimed at promoting the productive activity of SMEs is also noted.

Teaching of core engineering courses involves significant challenges due to the complexity of illustrating abstract concepts while maintaining student attention, particularly in the context of virtual learning. However, virtual modalities also allow to take advantage of simulation tools to visualize such concepts. This paper discusses the experience of different didactic strategies implemented in a virtual environment for teaching electromagnetic theory in the Electromagnetism I course at the School of Electrical Engineering. The strategies implemented included synchronous and asynchronous sessions, forums, simulations, among others. The effectiveness of the strategies was evaluated using student surveys at the end of each semester. The results of this experience will be a useful resource for future versions of the course, both for teaching and evaluation activities. It was concluded that active learning allowed students to understand abstract concepts in a visual way, which resulted in a better academic experience.

The purpose of this article is to describe the application of the methodology of the systematization of experiences in a virtual classroom. It also exposes the results and a reflection on the learning and practices to improve of the GC-0019 Local and Regional, which is part of the curriculum of the B.A in Cultural Management taught at the Pacific Regional  of the University of Costa Rica. The lived experience of 15 students is analyzed from 4 evaluations that were carried out during the course, for which the same group generated the inputs for this analysis.

This article consists of the academic systematization of a didactic experience implemented in the Law School at University of Costa Rica, through multidisciplinary teaching collaboration and the confluence of efforts in the field of university teaching and educational technology. Among its main contributions, educational innovation stands out as the axis to enhance learning interaction and the consolidation of collaborations from the teaching level for the improvement of university academic methodology.

Electrical Machines course requires an understanding of the construction fundamentals and physical principles of motors, generators, and transformers. So that students understand the behavior of this type of electrical machines, it is necessary for them to conduct operating practices. The Electromechanical Design course aims to introduce the student to a controlled industrial work environment through the precision workshop. On March 5th, 2020, the University of Costa Rica ordered some measures given the emergency caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, including the suspension of face-to-face activities. In the II semester of 2021, any courses enable to return to face-to-face, complying with the protocols issued by the teaching house and the Ministry of Health. Due to this, and the physical limitations of space and equipment, decides that offer the courses in a bimodal way: a face-to-face week and a virtual week. This paper seeks to systematize the experience in engineering education in a bimodal way during the II semester 2021, specifically in said courses. A diagnosis was made at the end of the course to listen to the student's voice regarding the transition from face-to-face to virtuality, which virtual tools should continue to be used in the pedagogical mediation and which modality (face-to-face, virtual or hybrid) facilitates their learning of the course. Among the findings found in the study, engineering students indicate that they prefer a modality that includes some degree of face-to-face learning.

This article shows the development, growth and expansion of the Basic Stage of Music of the University of Costa Rica at the Pacific headquarters. It has contributed to the development of people and musicians in the communities of Puntarenas, generating jobs in the Pacific area for future professionals performing and teaching music. In addition to the historical analysis, interviews were conducted with students, graduates, teachers, as well as members of the community participating in the project. The positive impact is manifested in populations with high social risk is analyzed through the creation of groups, initiatives and links with projects derived from the Basic Stage of Music. . The result has been a project with a lot of impact in the Puntarenas area to contribute to the development and creation of new opportunities for musicians and their professional and recreational development. Likewise, articles referring to the creation and organization of Basic Stages of Music in other regional headquarters and their contribution are analyzed and studied.

The purpose of this research is to understand the teaching experience that resulted from the change from face-to-face classes to emergency remote learning at the ​​Social Sciences School of the University of Costa Rica (UCR). To explore this, it was essential to study the relationships that teachers developed with their students, the activities they carried out, the learning that was achieved, and their reflections on the process. The work was done through a qualitative study based on focused, in-depth interviews. The voices of 11 teachers and their conclusions about the processes experienced in their teaching practice are highlighted, alongside a brief contextualization of the UCR. The research concludes that the change affected more than the way classes were delivered: it also had an impact on interpersonal relationships, and on the scripts that have been previously followed in the educational system. That is why so many cameras were kept off during video conferences. However, while the medium changed, the curricular, methodological and didactic conception of the teacher was sustained. The UCR built capacity in its virtual platforms, as well as in the experience of teachers and students who will continue to use other virtual tools even when face-to-face education takes place.

Statistical maps are thematic representations for the graphing of statistical information from administrative units. For the representation of maps, there is a wide range of software, generally high cost and few free software for representation. R is free computational statistical and graphing software available for research. The objective of the article is to present a routine for the graphing of statistical maps using R and its different libraries, through the case of the Cantonal Human Development Index (HDI). R and the ggplot2, ggspatial, sf, rgdal, plyr, ggrepel and readxl libraries were obtained. The base map was obtained from a vector map in GeoJSON format and the information at the canton level was obtained from an EXCEL spreadsheet, with information from the Cantonal Human Development Atlas, 2021. The vector map information was integrated with EXCEL and did the graphical representation in R. In the generated map, the cantons of Santa Ana, Escazú and Belén have the highest HDI values among all the cantons and, in general, the cantons of Heredia are the ones with the highest values as a whole. The canton of Matina in the province of Limón has the lowest HDI in the country. The resulting map in R is a high-resolution graph that can be exported to the most popular graphic formats JPG, TIFF, PNG, BMP, thus being R a free software alternative to generate high resolution statistical maps.