<span>En este trabajo intentamos cambiar la presentación de una guía de trabajos prácticos tradicional, de las utilizadas en los cursos básicos de química, por una propuesta diferente que pretende facilitar un aprendizaje significativo y familiarizar al alumno con algunas de las formas de trabajo características de las ciencias experimentales. Mostramos en primer lugar la guía de trabajos prácticos escrita según el estilo tradicional, luego la guía modificada y, por último, la fundamentación de los cambios propuestos.</span>
We present a didactic strategy designed in order to investigate if the achievement of a simple laboratory practice, next to the daily reality of the pupil, might help to diminish the difficulties presented by pupils of a first university course of chemistry in the comprehension of the concepts associated with the topic solutions, like composition, density and concentration of a solution. Experimentation helped students differentiate between density and concentration and consistently solve problematic situations. It happens that some students consider a solution as a new substance. This deeply rooted idea that prevails even after experimentation in the laboratory is constituted as a real domain theory, because students have built a consistent reasoning between the observed macroscopic vision and the studied characteristics of substances. This theory of domain recognizes at least three implicit assumptions of epistemological, ontological and conceptual origin. The results of the research allow us to conclude that the achievement of meaningful learning requires not only practice in the laboratory, but a simultaneous work of training, experimentation and meta cognition.
<span>Los cursos de química del Ciclo Básico Común de la Universidad de Buenos Aires son en general numerosos y no se dispone de laboratorios. En este contexto, la necesaria aplicación de los contenidos por parte del propio alumno, a través de experiencias que posibiliten un aprendizaje significativo, no siempre puede realizarse de manera eficaz. Entre los recursos de que dispone el docente para facilitar ese aprendizaje, figuran las demostraciones experimentales, que fueron introducidas en el curso buscando aumentar su calidad.</span>
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