In this paper, the characteristics and results of a teaching unit based on the use of educational games to learn the idea of chemical elements and their periodic classification in secondary education are analyzed. The method is aimed at Spanish students aged 15−16 and consists of 24 1-h sessions. The results obtained on implementing the teaching unit are assessed with a focus on the development of students' understanding of the topics covered and their perceptions toward the role of games in the learning process. The data collection methods used included a learning assessment test (administered before the unit was started and one month after completion of the unit) and a questionnaire to assess the students' learning experience. As a complementary method to acquire data, the teacher keeps a diary. The main conclusion was that students progressed significantly in the areas of learning related to knowledge of the Periodic Table and its nature and history, but a lower level of progress was found in the application of knowledge and the use of evidence to draw conclusions. Furthermore, to some extent, the teaching unit helps to overcome learning difficulties associated with the study of this subject. In addition, most responses to the questionnaire indicated that students who followed the teaching unit with games achieved statistically better final results than those in the control group, who followed a traditionally taught program. A positive assessment was provided by students concerning the role of games in the proposed unit, and there were also positive perceptions regarding the influence of games on learning and their potential to encourage participation in the classroom. Finally, this research identifies a new type of educational resource, namely task involving play (TIP), that can be defined as intermediate between play and game scenarios. The TIPs may include artistic or technological creations by the student, and they allow the student to play an active role in the learning process. Such tasks help students to improve their learning through educational games, and they can be perceived as intermediate in terms of their simplicity, usefulness, attractiveness, and interest with respect to educational games.

No abstract

ResumenEn este artículo se analizan las dificultades de aprendizaje de los alumnos de educación secundaria en torno al tema de la clasificación periódica de los elementos. Para ello, se recogen las opiniones de una muestra de profesores de Química y de didáctica de las ciencias obtenidas a partir de cuestionarios escritos y entrevistas individuales semiestructuradas. La información resultante es analizada a partir de un conjunto de ocho dimensiones, correspondientes a diferentes razones que pueden obstaculizar el aprendizaje en este ámbito. Concretamente se proponen estas dimensiones, a saber: 1) aspectos actitudinales, 2) memorización, 3) carencias o preconcepciones en torno a conceptos previos sobre los que se sustenta el tema, 4) desconocimiento o incomprensión de las propiedades que se utilizan como criterios de clasificación, 5) la noción de periodicidad y de percepción de su utilidad, 6) ambivalencia de significados de nociones asociadas a la Tabla Periódica, 7) carácter abstracto de los conceptos implicados y de los razonamientos exigidos y 8) deficiencias en el proceso de enseñanza.Palabras clave: clasificación periódica de los elementos, dificultades de aprendizaje, obstáculos en educación química, Tabla Periódica. AbstractThispaper analyzes thelearning difficultiesof students in secondary education about the subject of the Periodic Table of elements. We present the opinions of a sample of teachers in Chemistry and Science Education obtained from written questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The information has been analyzed from a set of eight dimensions that allow us to systematize several sources of difficulty and different reasons that may hinder student learning in this subject. Specifically, we propose Sección educación científica 54ANTONIO JOAQUÍN FRANCO-MARISCAL, JOSÉ MARÍA OLIVA-MARTÍNEZ these dimensions: 1) attitudinal aspects, 2) memorizing 3) deficiencies about preconceptions in the lesson 4) misunderstanding of the properties used as criteria classification; 5) the notion of periodicity and the perception of its usefulness 6) ambivalence of meanings of notions related with the Periodic Table; 7) the abstract nature of the concepts involved and the reasoning required; and 8) deficiencies in the teaching process.

[ 155 ]Modelos científicos: significado y papel en la práctica científica ResumenEl propósito de este artículo es contribuir a una mejor comprensión de los modelos científicos como componentes clave de la naturaleza de la ciencia. Para ello se aborda, en primer lugar, el significado epistemológico de los modelos científicos y su papel en la práctica científica. A continuación, se trata la función de los modelos científicos como mediadores entre una teoría y el mundo real, la cual se relaciona con el carácter parcialmente autónomo de los modelos respecto de ambos. Se incluyen varios ejemplos de modelos científicos para ilustrar la exposición sobre el funcionamiento de los modelos científicos. El artículo concluye con una breve referencia a las concepciones epistemológicas semanticista e instrumentalista sobre los modelos, que discurren paralelas al debate clásico entre el realismo y el pragmatismo acerca de la interpretación de las teorías científicas.Palabras clave: modelos científicos; modelización; práctica de la ciencia; semanticismo; instrumentalismo. AbstractThis article aims to contribute to a better understanding of the scientific models as a key component of the nature of science. For this, firstly the epistemological meaning of the scientific models and their role in the scientific practice are discussed. Secondly the function of the scientific models as intermediaries or mediators between theory and real world is addressed. This function is based on the partially autonomic character of the scientific models with regard to the latter. In order to illustrate the exposition of it various examples are included. The article concludes with a brief reference to both the semanticist and instrumentalist epistemological conceptions regarding the models, which run parallel with the classical debate between realism and pragmatism around the interpretation of scientific theories.

No abstract