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Educational innovations supported by digital games are proliferating in primary and secondary classrooms, generating research on their effects upon learning outcomes. This review analyzes 27 experiences in the field of life sciences education, identifying the experimental design, traits of the control group, results achieved and the role of the teacher as relevant factors to assess their effectiveness. Most research highlights the increase in student motivation; however, only a few of them show significant achievements in scientific learning. The didactic integration of digital games could promote the students’ involvement in socio-scientific topics and the inclusion of learners with different abilities, although more research with mixed designs is needed, so as to identify the role of the teacher and the most effective didactic intervention model for each context.

Es presenta una innovació educativa consistent a introduir a estudiants d'Educació Secundària en els rudiments de la recerca científica. Inserit en un Projecte més global, en el qual participen diverses institucions educatives, es descriu aquí el procés seguit en el desenvolupament d'una recerca oferta sobre les il·lustracions dels llibres de text de ciències. Els estudiants, que la van triar lliurement, es reuneixen periòdicament amb els responsables d'aquella per conèixer els seus objectius i col·laborar en la presa de dades, la seva anàlisi i en l'elaboració de les conclusions finals. Així mateix es valora la recerca duta a terme i es proposen línies de millora en l'ús de les il·lustracions en l'ensenyament. Els resultats finals són presentats en un Congrés en el qual es mostren els de tots els projectes elaborats.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the metacognitive practices that elementary school teachers foster in their Mathematics classes under conditions of non interference. In order to accomplish this, the paper defines an Interpretative Frame that serves as the basis for examining the cognitive and metacognitive processes that arise in the mathematics classroom. The Frame is applied in the exploratory case study of metacognitive practices promoted by two elementary school teachers in their regular Mathematics classes. Non-participating observation was chosen for data collection and our focus centered on proportional reasoning-related contents. The experience shows, inter alia, the flexibility, scope and consistency of the frame.

This study identifies visualisation processes in student primary teachers when they solve geometry problems requiring mathematical proof, in a pencil-and-paper environment. The results reveal the importance of the initial diagrams that accompany the problems, as well as subsequent modifications of these diagrams in the development of discursive and operative apprehension, constituting as they do links between mathematical reasoning processes and the visualisation of geometry-problem solving in a paper-and-pencil context. Finally, we identify the possible causes of those limitations that hinder the development of such apprehension.

In the last decades, a growing number of physicists have taken up the challenge of implementing in the learning and teaching of physics the same research discipline applied to traditional research in the field. Such commitment is largely known as «Physics Education Research» (PER). In this paper we will discuss a proposal of utilization of results of the research for classroom practice at High School and university level. This paper presents evidence from different studies to demonstrate the potential positive impact of the research on teaching and learning physics on students’ understanding of physics. Finally, we will show some practical challenges and propose some steps that could be taken to ensure PER growth and productivity.

Mathematical modelling allows students to associate their learning with real situations. This paper analyzes an experience with engineering students when they were developing a mathematical modelling project using virtual forums, which considers the levels of interaction and depth of their messages and the influence of those forums on the modifications made to improve their work. The results mainly reflect that medium levels of interaction and low levels of depth were achieved, that the level of interaction depended on how the experience was performed, and that the highest levels of interaction and depth corresponded to the greatest improvements in the work. This opens up for future possibilities in the use of virtual forums by integrating modelling into university-level mathematics learning.

The aim of this paper is to identify the learning difficulties that children from 1st to 3rd grade of primary education have in the construction of natural numbers. Such difficulties do not come from teaching, but from mathematics themselves; in order to observe these difficulties, it is necessary to reduce the problem to the basics. Through Local Theoretical Models, as a theoretical and methodological framework, a Teaching Model has been designed by translating the formal component (J. Von Neumann Model) into a sequence of activities, with the use of manipulative material. We analyze the teaching experience and results highlight and explain the children’s difficulties in these activities.

This paper analyses the argumentative operations performed by pre-service teachers during a role play about setting down a nuclear waste deposit. The types of knowledge used for constructing their arguments when they try to reach a final agreement are also studied. The participants are undergraduate students from the degree of Pre-school and Primary Teacher Training at three different Spanish universities. Data collection includes video recordings of the role play. The findings point to the students’ ability to make statements and justify their arguments, although they find it difficult to use other argumentative elements in their speech. Moreover, social and scientific-technological knowledge are proved to be the most used types of knowledge in the participants’ search of a consensual decision about setting down the nuclear deposit.

Future teachers must know, in addition to the basics of the subjects, the basis of the different methodologies that they will be able to use in the classroom. Project-based learning is a methodology which is currently used at schools so as to make a dramatic change possible in relation with the roles of teachers and students, as well as the development of skills. This paper presents a didactic research developed in the subject of Natural Sciences at the degree in Primary Education with the aim of analyzing what it means for students the use of this methodology in the development of an interdisciplinary project in the field of sustainable development. The results that come out of the analysis of the projects show a remarkable level of quality in their elaboration and students express a positive attitude towards their use.

The aim of this paper is to identify profiles of future teachers in secondary education based on their perception towards the acquisition of competences, relating them with the previous background. By means of an online questionnaire, data were collected from student teachers or recently graduated teachers in mathematics from the Master’s degree in Secondary Education Teacher-Training in different Spanish universities. The analysis has allowed to identify three profiles, which are correlated with a higher or lower perception of attaining the competences, either related to mathematical knowledge or to pedagogical content. Thus, results are in line with the theoretical model used to describe mathematics teachers’ knowledge. This study supports the need to design and implement interventions that improve the weaknesses of each profile during initial teacher training.

In this paper, we present a research work whose main objective is to reveal the opinions of active teachers about the implementation of a didactic proposal for Natural Sciences in Context, with an interdisciplinary approach, linked to a project-based methodology. The research shows the advantages and limitations indicated by teachers who did not apply the proposal with their respective students, and the opinions of those who did implement it in their classrooms. The latter showed social representations that are rooted in the educational community and would act as implicit obstacles when implementing innovative proposals.

The theory of didactic situations in mathematics postulates that learning is produced by adaptation to an antagonistic milieu, given the central role that this theory assigns to the adidactical situations (moments where the students’ autonomous production of knowledge takes place). However, the relevance of constructivist approaches is questioned by sociocultural theories, when referring to learning scientific contents. In this paper, we justify the importance of a dialogical-cooperative didactic model –in which teacher and students work together in the resolution of problems-situations– during the students’ first encounter with mathematical objects. This justification is based on the epistemological, ontological, semiotic and instructional assumptions of the onto-semiotic approach to mathematical knowledge and instruction.

In this paper we present some findings from a 3-year research project that sought to characterize epistemological representations on scientific thought competencies (STC) among elementary trainee teachers (ETTs) in three Chilean universities. In a first phase, the project delves in the representations of the ETTs as related to the notion of STC, which we analyze characterizing them as densely as possible from «antagonistic» epistemological spheres: moderate rationalism and positivist rationalism, by means of a questionnaire applied in 3 science teaching courses. The results suggest the coexistence of both epistemological representations, which has important implications in relation to the initial training process of future science pre-school teachers.

This paper presents a study based on an analysis of introductory lessons to biology and geology and to physics and chemistry in Secondary Education textbooks. The aims of this study are to characterize the view on the «nature of science» that is transmitted, to determine whether science is differentiated from pseudoscience and to detect whether certain concepts appear, by examining both the theoretical content of the textbooks and the recommended activities. The analysis reveals a lack of an introductory lesson in some books. Where such lesson is included, the text usually focuses on scientific method, paying little attention to the evolution of science, scientific models or other significant concepts. The image of science that is promoted, although it has positive aspects, is often deficient. In short, there is a lack of reflection on what science is and how it is constructed.

This paper reports a pre-service teaching experience, which combined the multiple intelligences theory with environmental education, in the context of a macro design-based research, with the mediation of a learning community through collaborative research. In this methodological framework, the teacher designed and applied a strategy about water with a group of 25 first grade students, including some children with functional diversity (Attention Deficit Disorder –ADD–, learning disabilities without diagnosis, and blindness). This was so designed to respond to the diversity of children in terms of ways of learning, and facilitate its diverse expressions, as well as to seek environmental literacy. The teacher’s achievements in the classroom are thus exposed with regards to teaching about water resources, drawing on the theory of multiple intelligences, together with the implications that collaborative research has for initial teacher preparation.

This paper presents a proposal for health literacy through the specification and definition of the competences that students must acquire during Compulsory Education. Eight areas of health were determined through a Delphi study, identifying the problems or health situations that students must know how to solve, as well as the competences to be developed and the learning contents necessary to face each of these problems. These learning contents constitute the instrument of analysis to verify to what extent those health situations are present in the official Compulsory Education curriculum. The studies carried out regarding mental and emotional health show that the prescriptive curriculum has some deficiencies that hinder the development of competences, which negatively affects health literacy.

In this paper we analyse the performance of 8th, 9th and 10th grade students (14, 15 and 16 years old respectively), attending Physics and Chemistry lessons, when assessing the design of scientific research on a precipitation problem identified in the dairy industry. Students’ performances are examined separately for each dimension involved in the design: identifying the issue to be studied, posing the hypotheses, planning the research and selecting the ending criterion. For the analysis, we collect participants’ individual proposals, which have to include the following tasks: selecting the best option, justifying their choice and modifying the alternative option so that it will be correct. The less adequate results correspond to the last two dimensions.

In this paper, we analyse how the epistemological and didactic models that a lesson study community assumes determine the way this professional development process is conducted, as well as its outcomes. To do this, we propose a reinterpretation of lesson study as a praxeology of the teaching profession, drawing on tools from the Anthropological Theory of Didactics. The analysis of three cases will evince the role that different epistemological and didactic models play in the organisation and development of the work of lesson study groups, and in the potential learning of teachers. Thus, we provide new theory-informed insights into lesson study.

This paper evaluates the past achievements and future challenges on the field of Science Education. It tries to offer a panorama of the most important consensus achieved by the research community and it synthesizes some essential elements of the paradigm emerging from science teaching in line with them (goals, theoretical foundations and curriculum prescriptions). Lastly, it analyzes the difficulties to face change and it submits proposals in order to invigorate it from a scientific perspective, as well as from an ethic and sociopolitical point of view.

This paper presents an innovative didactic proposal to treat some contents related to energy and the matter changes belonging to the physics and chemistry subject of third course of Compulsory Secondary Education. Its purpose is the approach of science to the real environment of students, through an everyday activity as is cooking. The proposal aims to encourage motivation and interest in science and the elimination of possible sexist attitudes. The proposal combines three practical activities: preparation of muffins, spherifications, and cooking of meat using different energy sources; and three ICT activities: analysis of TV spots, search of energy sources in a cooking program and presentation of an energy efficient kitchen. All activities are supported by the principles of recreational science and teamwork.

In this paper, we analyze the cognitive-linguistic skills (description, explanation, justification and argument) of 5 students in a technological course, Management of Agribusiness Production Program at the Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar, in collaboration with Edupol. The study is set at an online course with convergent media, where students analyze industrial processes related to industrial chemistry. The methodology is qualitative with case study; the results show that the cognitive-linguistic skills of students, synchronously and asynchronously, can be enhanced by developing content and social writing through a dialogic communication, and creating a learning environment based on the principles of constructivism in online education.

A teacher’s knowledge is considered a significant factor contributing to their classroom performance and the promotion of mathematics learning in their students. This paper examines the knowledge deployed by a secondary teacher when working on the topic of similarity of triangles, focusing on the connections between subdomains within Pedagogical Content Knowledge in the model Mathematics Teachers’ Specialized Knowledge. Specifically, drawing on data from lesson observations and interviews with the teacher, it considers connections between the subdomains knowledge of mathematics teaching and knowledge of the features of learning mathematics. The results underline the relationship between research and practice, in that they bring to the fore specific connections between subdomains and their related categories and illustrate how these contribute to classroom decisions.

This paper examines the adequacy of different teaching strategies to scaffold students’ engagement in scientific practices. The participants are two secondary teachers and their respective groups of 9th grade students attending Physics and Chemistry. The task requires students to investigate the effectiveness of two toothpastes to prevent cavities. For the analysis we examine the discourse of both teachers during the implementation of the task and we code their interventions according to a framework for scaffolding strategies developed by Van de Pol, Volman and Beishuizen (2010). The results point to differences in the strategies employed by the teachers, which affect to students’ performances for planning and carrying out investigations.

This paper presents the research conducted to create a history-of-science-based resource that would introduce students to chemical formulas in secondary education in France. This elaboration is based on theoretical frameworks dealing with educational reconstruction of teaching-learning sequences and on the analysis of teaching practices. Preliminary empirical investigations conducted with students and some teachers show the need to articulate the registers of models, reality and language at the submicroscopic and macroscopic levels for learning the concepts of chemical change and chemical reaction. The first part of the resource is implemented in the classroom. The second part that allows to write the reasons justifying the chemical formulas is rejected by two teachers. This leads to a first proposal of the evolution of the resource.

En aquest article s’avaluen les Competències Ambientals (CA) del professorat en formació inicial a l’inici i a l’acabament del grau de mestre d’educació primària a una universitat espanyola. S’ha desenvolupat i validat un qüestionari amb la finalitat d’avaluar sis CA en relació amb els coneixements, actituds i comportaments ambientals dels estudiants de la mostra (n=3419. Els resultats de l’estudi revelen que al professorat en formació inicial li manquen CA que els permetin educar ambientalment a l’alumnat. A més, s’ha pogut veure que no existeixen diferències en el seu grau d’adquisició entre l’alumnat de primer i quart curs del grau de mestres d’educació primària. Com a resultat, es qüestiona el paper de la universitat i els nous programes dissenyats en el procés de convergència cap a l’Espai Europeu d’Educació Superior i s’assenyalen algunes propostes de millora.

Aquest treball aborda la reintroducció d'estratègies didàctiques en ciències experimentals al món rural de la província de València que va tenir lloc a partir dels anys 60 del segle passat. Per a això s'han analitzat documents relatius al Patronat d'Educació Rural (1958-1985), organisme depenent de la Diputació de València constituït amb l'objectiu de millorar l'educació en zones rurals de la província. La metodologia utilitzada en la recerca es fonamenta en el mètode analític descriptiu mitjançant la cerca, revisió i anàlisi de fonts històriques i iconogràfiques dipositades en l'Arxiu de la Diputació Provincial de València. La recerca pretén posar de manifest l'abast i el paper essencial que van tenir els mestres i mestres del Patronat d'Educació Rural en la modernització i europeïtzació educativa del món rural valencià.

Aquest treball es planteja estudiar el paper de la Química Verda a l'educació científica per contribuir, des d'aquest camp, a la Ciència de la Sostenibilitat i, per tant, a la transició cap a societats sostenibles. Es mostraran uns primers resultats d'una recerca duta a terme sobre l'atenció que l'ensenyament secundari i la pròpia recerca en el camp de la didàctica de les ciències estan prestant a les aportacions de la Química Verda, i la possibilitat de la seva incorporació en la formació de la ciutadania i l'adopció de mesures necessàries per contribuir a la construcció d'un futur sostenible. Es pretén així respondre a les nombroses crides perquè l'educació, tota l'educació i molt en particular l'ensenyament de les ciències, pari esment als problemes i desafiaments que afecten a la humanitat, contribuint a la cerca de solucions i a la formació d'una ciutadania responsable i preparada per a la presa de decisions.

Basats en la teoria APOE com a marc teòric i metodològic, investiguem, des d'una postura cognitiva, les estructures mentals necessàries per construir el teorema per al canvi de base de vectors (TCBV). Amb el propòsit d'analitzar la forma en què estudiants universitaris ho aprenen, es va dissenyar una descomposició genètica (DG) per al teorema. Mitjançant tres casos d'estudi es mostra com estudiants d'aquests casos construeixen el concepte de coordenades d'un vector, però tenen dificultats per utilitzar-ho en la construcció de la matriu de coordenades de vectors. Aquesta dificultat està vinculada al fet que no han coordinat els processos involucrats en termes del quantificador. Específicament, es mostren les dificultats en la construcció del TCBV com a objecte i el paper determinant que exerceix el concepte de combinacions lineals en el TCBV.

La recerca en la didàctica de les ciències ha examinat detalladament processos d'adquisició de coneixement i comprensió del contingut científic. No obstant això, s'ha prestat menys atenció als papers positius de la incomprensió o el desconeixement conscient. Aquest article és el segon de dos treballs de revisió i síntesi en els quals s'analitza el desconeixement i la incomprensió conscients de continguts científics. El primer se centra en els components i estructura de la incomprensió i en aquest segon s'examinen les variables que afecten al desconeixement i a la incomprensió conscients. En particular es revisen i sintetitzen estudis sobre l'efecte que tenen el coneixement, les tasques i els criteris de coherència en la consciència de la incomprensió, o el desconeixement de la ciència, que es manifesta generalment a través de preguntes. Finalment se sintetitzen algunes de les implicacions que tenen els estudis revisats per a l'ensenyament i l'aprenentatge de les ciències.

El present treball reflexiona sobre la visió biològica del concepte energia que s'aplica actualment a les aules a partir de l'anàlisi de diversos llibres de text, en paper i digitals. Es pretén analitzar quin és el concepte d'energia que apareix en els textos i en els exercicis del final de la unitat didàctica, així com identificar una possible relació entre la demanda cognitiva dels exercicis de final d'unitat i la manera de presentar el concepte d'energia. Els resultats mostren una multiplicitat d'idees respecte al concepte d'energia tant en els textos com en els exercicis analitzats, sent les més comunes les relacionades amb la idea de flux i magatzematge, arribant a detectar diferents idees del concepte d'energia dins d'una mateixa unitat didàctica. Respecte a l'anàlisi de la demanda cognitiva dels exercicis de final d'unitat, els resultats mostren un clar domini de les activitats de menor demanda cognitiva, destacant el fet que majoritàriament en ells no es treballa el concepte d'energia sinó que, per exemple, es limiten a sol·licitar a l'alumnat definicions o l'elaboració de llistes d'òrgans i orgànuls.

Aquest treball presenta una recerca en relació a l'aprenentatge de les ciències a partir de l'escriptura de textos justificatius sobre l'origen dels éssers vius amb alumnes de 14 anys. Amb l'objectiu de promoure que l'alumnat escrivís millors textos justificatius en classe de ciències, es va analitzar en primer lloc el paper de l'aprenentatge integrat dels conceptes científics (patró temàtic) i dels textos justificatius (patró estructural) i en segon lloc la influència de les activitats d'avaluació entre iguals en aquest aprenentatge. Els resultats evidencien en primer lloc que, després de treballar conjuntament el patró estructural i el patró temàtic, els alumnes han escrit millors textos justificatius des del punt de vista formal alhora que mostren una major comprensió dels conceptes científics i, en segon lloc, que les activitats d'avaluació entre iguals han estat eficaces, ja que el nombre d'alumnes que abans de les activitats d'avaluació admetien la possibilitat de la generació espontània o no donaven raons per justificar el seu punt de vista es va reduir a la meitat després de l'avaluació entre iguals.

How can we examine if a teacher’s discourse in the mathematics classroom is effective according to the goals of communicating a culture of school mathematics and producing opportunities for students to learn contents of this culture? In this paper, we present the construction of a notion of local coherence applied to the oral mathematical discourse in the classroom. We create indicators of coherence and relate them to the generation of mathematics learning opportunities. We illustrate the process with data from two teachers and the characterization of their discourse –its coherence– when teaching with examples. The discussion of grades of coherence and learning opportunities serves to distinguish the teachers’ discourses. Drawing on this finding, we evaluate the notion of local coherence.

Fomentar l'adquisició en l'alumnat de capacitats i actituds essencials per exercir una ciutadania responsable, requereix d'un professorat de ciències que apliqui estratègies metodològiques amb cert caràcter innovador. Per això, en aquest treball hem indagat sobre la disposició, que el professorat de ciències en formació inicial, té a incorporar-les en el seu ensenyament. Per a això, es va dissenyar i va aplicar un qüestionari conformat per preguntes tancades i obertes, en el qual van participar 30 estudiants del Màster de Professorat d'Educació Secundària. Els resultats posen de manifest 4 tendències, estant la majoria dels participants situats en la caracteritzada per atorgar poc espai a activitats innovadores, que permetin a l'alumnat adoptar un paper protagonista en el seu propi aprenentatge i desenvolupar continguts que van més enllà de l'aprenentatge conceptual.

En aquest estudi s'analitza el paper del treball amb analogies en la mobilització i desenvolupament de capacitats i valors vinculats a l'activitat de modelització en ciències. concretament, s'estudien els processos que es relacionen amb l'ús i aplicació del model de canvi químic. La informació utilitzada per a l'anàlisi procedeix de 35 estudiants de tercer d'ESO amb els quals es va assajar una proposta d'ensenyament que emprava analogies com a recurs central i recurrent. el instrument fonamental de recollida de dades va consistir en el portafoli de l'alumne, si bé de forma complementària es va recórrer també a entrevistes individuals, al diari del professor i enregistraments. Les dades obtingudes mostren com l'entorn de treball plantejat oferir un escenari estimulant per a la posada en pràctica i desenvolupament d'habilitats, destreses i valors necessaris per utilitzar i aplicar els models apresos de la ciència escolar. No tots els alumnes es van beneficiar de la mateixa manera de aquest escenari, tot i que més de dos terços d'ells van evidenciar nivells apropiats en la competència de modelització.

Els processos de construcció de coneixement matemàtic, com definir, són clau en l'activitat de «fer matemàtiques». La caracterització del seu aprenentatge és un tema rellevant en el camp d'investigació en educació matemàtica. En aquest treball, adoptant una perspectiva sociocultural, a través d'una anàlisi inductiu, hem identificat diferents situacions d'aprenentatge matemàtic. Aquestes situacions es caracteritzen a través de les eines teòriques procedents de la perspectiva sociocultural quan grups d'estudiants resolen tasques en un context geomètric. Els resultats mostren que determinades rutines juguen un paper rellevant en els procediments de canvi en el discurs matemàtic.

Integrar les TIC a les aules de Física i Química suposa un gran repte i els factors involucrats són molts i complexos. El problema fonamental rau en com s'utilitzen les TIC per part dels estudiants i, en això, tenen un paper molt important l'escola i l'ús que els professors fan d'elles. Hem realitzat una investigació amb 138 professors de Física i Química per analitzar com utilitzen les TIC en el seu treball d'aula, la percepció que tenen sobre com les utilitzen seus alumnes i les dificultats que sorgeixen en tractar i integrar les TIC en el treball d'aula. Els resultats mostren que les TIC s'utilitzen poc i que el seu ús genera incertesa en molts professors, per el que es pot concloure que cal una formació que faciliti la seva integració a les aules.

The primary objective of this paper is to propose a mechanism for selecting specific competences for preservice science teacher training, referring to relevant sources for such training. To this end we have used an trans-disciplinary procedure consistent with incorporating critical competences from the following curricular sources: Models of current preservice teacher training in educational literature, the current curriculum of Science in Compulsory Secondary Education in Spain, the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), the views of in-service secondary school teachers (through a survey whose most relevant results are given), teachers’ epistemological conceptions, the professionalization of teaching and the demands it generates and, finally the social dimension of science.

This paper focuses on the study of the learning progress of a group of students aged between 16 and 18, while they were performing activities on a real and close problem, as is the quality of the air in cities. Indicators for the different competencies involved, and 4 levels of development in them have been defined. The teaching and learning process was carried out by applying selected materials which were developed specifically to treat this problem. The results show clear progress mainly in those aspects related to what students have to face in their lives beyond school walls.

The research presented in this paper is based on an exploratory study on the views of a group of future primary education teachers in Education for Sustainability from a competence standpoint. First, we redefine a conceptual framework of professional competencies of teachers in Education for Sustainability. This framework is based on the competence conceptualisation, the role as trainer, generic competencies and professional development on Education for Sustainability. In turn this competencies framework guides the exploration of the student teachers’ views, which corresponds to the second objective of this research. The research instrument used is a questionnaire. A group of thirty-two third-year students on the Bachelor of Primary Education responded to our questionnaire, the analysis of which was qualitative. The findings indicate that student teachers, the participants in this study, emphasise values clarification, decision-making, participation and action for change, however they discount envisioning future scenarios, critical thinking, interdisciplinary dialogue and the management of emotions, essential professional competencies in Education for Sustainability. The findings of this study can guide the design of educational strategies and assessment tools to improve teacher training in the field of professional competencies in Education for Sustainability.

The paper presents a theoretical and methodological approach to the analysis of primary science teacher education discourse developed within a CLIL context (Content and Language Integrated Learning). From an integrated perspective using both a sociocultural and a conversational analysis approaches the study undertakes the analysis of discourse produced within small group interactions during a multilingual laboratory work activity dealing with the living being model in which student teachers used three languages: Catalan, Spanish and English. The analysis strategies include the identification of discursive actions and processes within each of the three fields that characterize students’ communicative actions: the field of science, the field of English, and the field of science education.Finally the questions that orient the analysis within and across fields are presented whose general aim is constituted by the main question: How can learning in CLIL science teacher education contexts occur?

We present results of an investigation in which, among other objectives, we sought to determine how the teaching of algebraic problem solving in a spreadsheet environment influenced the competence in the Cartesian method. The comparison of the tests administered before and after the instruction showed an increase in the polysemy of the x when problems were solved with paper and pencil and a decrease in the use of the language of algebra in age problems. We show that these results may be attributed to the emergence of solving strategies in the spreadsheet environment in which the described situations in the statement were modelled by functional relations. In such cases, the operation with the unknown was avoided and several quantities were grouped under a single name.

The research problem addressed in this paper is the visualization of the essential elements of the mathematical activity arising during classroom practice (denitions, properties, mathematical processes, etc.). We provide a tool for this purpose that displays these elements in the form of a graphic, and apply it to the study of the commonalities and differences in three different classes by different teachers in the same institution, year and school level when they teach the bisector. The results permit to infer further aspects of mathematical knowledge in the teaching practice.