This August 8 is the deadline for sending scientific works and experience reports in oral or poster format and being part of the second edition of this meeting.

There are only a few weeks left until the 2nd Chilean Congress of Agroecology, an activity organized by the Department of Agronomy of the University of La Serena in conjunction with the Chilean Scientific Society of Agroecology, which will take place on September 2 and 3 in virtual mode and which in this new version carries the motto “Agroecology: Reunion of knowledge to be reborn.”

Faced with this, the organization has informed of a new deadline for sending works to be presented in this new version of the congress, giving the final date for this to be Sunday, August 8, the day in which those interested in exhibiting at the meeting will be able to Send your scientific works and reports of experiences in oral or poster format.

The thematic areas of this congress are: Sustainable food systems, Peasants and local development, Training, education and extension in agroecology, Agroecology in times of crisis: lessons from the pandemic, Design and management of productive systems with agroecological bases, Agroecology and politics, Actors in agroecology and Marketing, certification and responsible consumption.

Those interested in exhibiting must send their work to the email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., while for more information and details of the content to send, you can visit the website http://www.agroecologia2021.cl/trabajos/

It is worth remembering that to hold this congress, scientists, academics, professionals, technicians, farmers, peasants and students are being called.

Along with this, registration is still open for participants without presentation of work in its different modalities, in addition to registration for the pre-congress course entitled “Management of Pests and Diseases with an Agroecological Approach” (online), which will be carried out on September 1 from 9:30 a.m.

For more information about this conference, visit their website http://www.agroecologia2021.cl/

Written by Tomás Rodríguez, DirCom.

Among the functions of the FACSEJ Advisory Council will be to provide feedback to the Faculty regarding the training of professionals who enter the workplace.

In an online ceremony and in the presence of the Rector Dr. Nibaldo Avilés Pizarro and university authorities, the Faculty of Social, Business and Legal Sciences officially established its Advisory Council, a consultative body made up of representatives from the public and private spheres, whose mission will be to advise, provide feedback and collaborate with the Faculty in various matters.

Among the functions of the FACSEJ Advisory Council will be to provide feedback to the Faculty regarding the training of professionals who enter the workplace; advise FACSEJ in relation to the undergraduate and graduate programs it offers; promote the insertion of Faculty graduates in the public or private sector, at the community, regional and national level; collaborate with the Faculty's initiatives in the area of ​​links with the environment, as well as advise it on the development of seminars, conferences, symposiums or similar activities, among other functions.

On the occasion, there was also the presence of the President of the Honorable Board of Directors of the University of La Serena and, in addition, a member of the FACSEJ Advisory Council, Mr. Ernesto Velasco, who presented the talk “New challenges of the State Universities ” where he summarized the process by which we understand public universities today and their connection with the environment.

Finally, the dean of the Faculty of Social, Business and Legal Sciences, Dr. Luperfina Rojas Escobar, who will also chair this Advisory Council, thanked the members and the community for attending the ceremony and noted that “for several years, as deanship, we have worked to formalize a series of strategic alliances, materialized through cooperation agreements that currently allow us to have a council made up of important representatives strongly linked to our academic, research and connection with the environment. I deeply thank and value everyone present here for having accepted this challenge of joining us in this instance that represents consolidating a mutual commitment to regional public education, with a quality seal.”

Members of the Advisory Council

Those who will make up this important advisory body will be:

• Ernesto Velasco Rodríguez, Honorable President of the Board of Directors of the University of La Serena.
• Inés Rojas Varas, Regional Defender of the Public Criminal Defender's Office, Coquimbo Region.
• Rómulo Gómez Sepúlveda, La Serena Regional Director of the Internal Revenue Service.
• Carlos Valderrama Lobos, Regional Director of the Coquimbo Regional Treasury.
• Patricio Bacho Chávez, General Secretary of the Gabriel González Videla Municipal Corporation of La Serena.
• Laura Cerda Vergara, President of the Chamber of Tourism of the Coquimbo AG Region.
• Francisco Puga Medina, General Manager of Diario el Día.
• Luis Villagrán Castellón, Director of the La Región newspaper.
• Reinalina Chavarri Muñoz, Academic and Director of the Sustainability Observatory, Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Chile.
• Yannette Alvial Gajardo, prominent professional and businesswoman from the Coquimbo Region.

You can relive the ceremony and talk at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l87-Nzx3INM

Written by Consuelo Peña, FACSEJ Communications

The activity included the participation of the Director of the Information Technology and Computing Center of the University of La Serena and the Manager of the Teaching Improvement Unit.

With the aim of disseminating to the academic community the institutional actions around online teaching, the Teaching Improvement Unit of the Teaching Directorate organized the first of a cycle of instances called "Let's talk about...", dealing, in this opportunity, the theme of hybrid rooms, 26 of which will soon be implemented at the ULS.

The activity included the participation of the Director of the Information and Computing Center of the University of La Serena (CICULS), Mg. Andrés Moya and the person in charge of the Teaching Improvement Unit (UMD), Lic. Gerardo Galleguillos, convening a large number of attendees.

Both speakers made reference to the challenges, technological projections and what it implies for teaching, the planning and implementation of hybrid rooms in the Institution. The presentation of both speakers included responding to the queries of academics from the various academic units of the ULS.

In this sense, Gerardo Galleguillos, Head of the Teaching Improvement Unit, valued the topic, highlighting its relevance “based on the new challenges that we will have as an institution.” He also highlights that “those spaces where dialogue is established between the Teaching Improvement Unit and the Information and Computing Center will always be well received, since the technical elements are contextualized based on teaching.” Finally, he highlights the participation and interest expressed by the attendees and the contribution of the questions asked.

It should be noted that, in order to continue socializing and exchanging information, experiences and knowledge around online and hybrid teaching, during the second half of 2021, new instances associated with training processes mediated by technology are planned. infocommunication, including training in the use of hybrid rooms aimed at the institution's teachers.

The Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities, consistent with the principles of universality, respect for diversity, pluralism, search for the common good and commitment to the public, which govern its actions, recognizes and celebrates the initiative of the Universities of the Region of La Araucanía to develop a dialogue process that contributes to repairing and rebuilding the relationships between the Mapuche people, Chilean society and its institutions.

In this spirit, it is considered essential to express to public opinion its support and collaboration for the proposal released on Tuesday, July 27, contained in the document “Araucanía: Urgency of Dialogue as a State Policy”, and which was signed by the rectors or authorities. regional universities of seven universities in La Araucanía. Among them, four universities from the Council of Rectors: the Catholic University of Temuco, the University of La Frontera, the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile Villarrica Campus, and the Arturo Prat University Victoria Campus. Also, the Mayor, Autonomous and Santo Tomás universities, in addition to the Bishop of Temuco and Grand Chancellor of the Catholic University of Temuco, Héctor Vargas Bastidas.

We especially value the invitation to build dialogue processes - and fundamentally listening -, with the understanding that these conversations can allow spaces for meeting and genuine intercultural dialogue that opens new possibilities for living together in a more diverse and inclusive Chile.

Finally, we highlight the participation of the Nansen Center for Peace and Dialogue, a Norwegian institution that has permanently shown its commitment to collaborate with the Council of Rectors and contribute from its vast territorial experience in different places, such as the Balkans, Afghanistan, Poland and Colombia, among others.

We trust that this great initiative will have positive effects and will be a contribution to the profound changes that Chile desires and demands.

Source: Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities 

Research focuses on mathematical experience through enactive metaphorization.

The renowned magazine Constructivist Foundations of the Vrije Universitiet Brussel, indexed in the WOS database, included in its latest publication (16. N°3:2021) two research articles by the academic from the Department of Education of the University of La Serena, Dr ©. Ronnie Videla, and the external collaborators: Daniela Díaz (Oxford) and Jorge Soto-Andrade (U de Chile), titled “Enactive Metaphorizing in the Mathematical Experience” and “Fathoming the Enactive Metaphorizing Elephant in the Dark…”

In these studies, in-person and remote ethnographic participant observation was used, where the researchers observed students involved in mathematical activities suggested by the proposed theoretical approach. The participants were eighth grade students, mathematics pedagogy students, and humanities students from the University of Chile.

The paper “Enactive Metaphorizing in the Mathematical Experience” consisted of presenting, through enactive metaphorization, a mathematical problem for each group of students that is traditionally presented under formulaic and sequential resolution of procedures. The objective was to describe the way in which the changes in perception and action brought about by metaphorization enact mathematical ways of thinking that contribute to understanding from the students' own experiences.

“Our observations highlight the relevance of leaving space for students to ask questions, co-construct their problems, explore, etc., rather than simply prescriptively learning the method to solve each type of problem. Consequently, one type of solution to the current bleak situation regarding the teaching and learning of mathematics would be to aim to relax the prevailing didactic contract that frustrates the natural meaning-making mechanisms of our species. Our conclusions suggest a possible remodeling of traditional teaching practice, although we refrain from trying to implement it in a prescriptive way,” the authors point out about the study's conclusions.

Along with this, in the article “Fathoming the Enactive Metaphorizing Elephant in the Dark…”, the epistemological and didactic foundations of enactive metaphorization are presented in an extended manner, based on the comments of international researchers experts in cognitive sciences and mathematics teaching. that they made to the article Enactive Metaphorizing in the Mathematical Experience”.

Regarding the development of this research, academic Ronnie Videla stated that “the relevance of these articles presented in one of the most important journals in cognitive sciences not only allows us to visualize the high-level research carried out by professors from the Department of Education. of the ULS Faculty of Humanities, but also opens opportunities to extend international collaboration networks to strengthen future projects with internal and external financing.

The latest edition of this magazine is available here.

Written by Claudia Farías, Faculty of Humanities

At the meeting: What are the challenges of Inclusive Education in the Americas? Teachers and educational authorities participated who, through dialogue and proposals, seek to improve the conditions of the students.

In the OAS - ORITEL webinar, broadcast by Zoom and Facebook Live, different actors presented ideas, proposals and experiences that seek to build the foundations to improve inclusive practices, from the school, incorporating the society and the community that surrounds it.

On the occasion, the Department's academic presented. of ULS Education, Dr. Georgina García, as coordinator of the Network of Chilean Public Universities for the Inclusion of Students with Disabilities.

The academic highlighted that collaborative work and the conviction that inclusion is not only possible, but essential for the common teaching and learning process, are the central elements of the transformation of the entire society.

“Democratic participation within educational institutions is critical. In Chile, the conditions of higher education students must improve. We are moving forward, but there are no clear policies in all areas, we must transform ourselves and incorporate all excluded groups,” said García.

This meeting is part of a series of conversations that are available at the link: https://www.facebook.com/OEAInclusion

Written by Claudia Farías, Faculty of Humanities