Abstract
The teaching-learning processes are carried out through established objectives for each grade level and these are achieved with didactic activities based on principles, educational concepts, and pedagogical contents. Activities that are divided into specific tasks that are performed with physical aids such as furniture and classroom generate diverse forms of work. Through observations it was detected that the current furniture did not respond to the pedagogical and didactic practices and there is no data indicating that it is designed according to the anthropometric variability of the students of the metropolitan area of Guadalajara according to the school grade taken by the student. Therefore, the authors sought to know the physical and functional characteristics required by school furniture to be a facilitator of pedagogical and didactic practices to make a proposal of a furniture design that meets both the pedagogical demands and the anthropometric variability of schoolchildren.
TopBackground
Mexico is currently experiencing a crisis in Mexico's education system and the challenge for the authorities is to regulate the teaching and learning system to increase the academic level. Based on the program for the International Assessment of Students (PISA) students do not learn the minimum content and have a low reading level. Since the 1990s the National Union of Education Workers (SNTE) and the federal government have modified curricula to competency-based education. From 1992, an agreement was made between the SNTE and the Federal Government for the modernization of basic education; modifying the curriculum to competency-based education, establishing preschool, primary and secondary education as mandatory. The competency method has the capacity to respond to different situations and implies skills, knowledge, as well as values and attitudes. At the elementary level, the students coexist in the same space and are coordinated by a teacher, who works with all or most of the subjects, which allows them to locate meeting points between the subjects and establishing forms of work. The teacher aims to create a teaching-learning environment to create a practical experience, which is linked to the student's learning and knowledge.
Teachers have a “Teacher's Book” that is distributed by the Secretary of Public Education (SEP) according to the grade they teach. These contain the purposes of the subjects in progress, as well as the didactic proposals and permanent activities that students and teachers must carry out to achieve the objectives. Students also have their own free textbooks provided by the SEP with didactic activities and projects to be carried out by students during the school year.
Although the SEP provides teachers with books, materials, and training; these are the ones who generate the pedagogical activities within their classroom to try to capture the attention and interest of the students. Whether it is a teacher-centered pedagogy, student-centered pedagogy or a balance between both has an assignment of tasks and objectives, as well as a usable time. The time, resources, academic preparation and even the classroom (Martin, 2002) factors change pedagogical models among teachers, so the accomplishment of the purposes, content and expected learning program demands time distribution class in different moments of work omitting didactic projects or permanent activities, as well as the organization of the class in group, team or individual activities.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Pedagogy: The art or science of teaching; education; instructional methods.
Task: A definite piece of work assigned to, falling, to, or expected of a person; duty.
Didactic Activities: The activities of educating or instructing; activities that impart knowledge or skill.
Competency-Based Learning: An approach to education that focuses on the student’s demonstration of desired learning outcomes as central to the learning process.
Educational Concept: The study of methods of training and teaching and effectiveness, and of problems experienced in learning formal material.
Learning Environment: The diverse physical locations, contexts, and cultures in which students learn.
Objective: Something that one´s effort or actions are intended to attain or accomplish; purpose; goal; target.
Constructivist-Based Learning: The idea that learners construct knowledge for themselves—each learner individually (and socially) constructs meaning—as he or she learns.