Formative research and didactics

Abstract

In the context of a broader study carried out in Uruguay and funded by the National Agency of Investigation and Innovation (ANII) and the National Council of Education (CFE) in 2019, this communication focused on the findings corresponding to the results of the evaluation of the Research Projects in Didactics (PIID). They were carried out by students of 3^rd year of the teacher training career in a Uruguayan centre in particular and they are connected with the productions that were elaborated in the framework of formative research (FR). It is widely recognized the importance of fostering the development of research competencies as promoters of the installation of the professional competencies inherent to the area in the teacher and student teachers´ practice, (Estrada 2019, Turpo, Quispe, Paz and González, 2020). The objective of this study consisted of comparing the changes evidenced in the evaluation of the Project and Final Report, implemented by the Didactics, Research and Computer Studies teachers and handed in by the students who participated in the project. The methodological framework was based on Action Research. One of the main purposes of this study was the conformation of a Professional Learning Community (PLC) aiming at promoting and implementing IF in the future teachers training. This PLC, composed by teachers, proposed to its students the design and execution of an inquiry in didactics about topics connected to their own teaching practice in the framework of FR. The written mid-term tests and the final term tests were corrected with rubrics whose dimensions and levels were agreed within the team and later discussed with the students. The correction was done together in meetings where the teachers agreed on which level corresponded to which dimension and then used a system of pre-established rules. The final rubric and the one used in the middle of the way had common dimensions such as: definition of the problem, setting of objectives, enquiries, antecedents and theoretical framework. Besides, the academic writing was evaluated transversally. The selected findings correspond to the results obtained from the application of the rubric. As each document constituted evidence of the learning gained in two moments of the year, the comparison aimed at checking the changes that appeared between one and the other moment in order to detect possible contributions of the FR process. (Estrada, 2019 and Turpo et al., 2020). The exposed data provided evidence with respect to the favorable changes that could be verified in the results of the students´ productions, and with reference to the writing of communication documents in the FR process. While in this communication only some results of the students´ productions of a certain community are considered, they are coherent with the benefits described in terms of contributions of the FR to identify problems in the teaching practice.