The activity was carried out within the framework of the Scientific Inquiry Deepening Course, with the purpose of bringing participants closer to the topics worked on in the classroom in an experiential way.

One of the commitments of the ICEC Program is to ensure that teachers can reflect on the learning obtained in their training sessions and, above all, apply this knowledge in their local environment. Therefore, one of the actions contemplated by the initiative is to carry out field trips somewhere in the region, where participants can directly contemplate the socio-scientific problems that affect the natural environment.

“What is more significant than the classroom moving to a local space, which is part of our daily lives, where we can observe and analyze the various factors that intervene in the dynamics of this landscape, this geography, natural phenomena, population dynamics , anthropic intervention, which are factors that shape and modify it over time,” said academic Gloria Núñez.

However, given the health situation caused by COVID-19, this year an extraordinary outing was carried out virtually in the Elqui River Mouth Wetland.

On this occasion, the activity was carried out by the Biodiversity advisor, Elizabeth Villalobos, who, through recordings previously made in person at the Desembocadura del Río Elqui Wetland together with the ICEC-ULS team, managed to explain the topics to be worked on related to the generality, biodiversity and socio-scientific problems.

“As a reflection, human beings are not inherently bad, but the problems arise from the need to learn to live together in a way in which we can all meet the needs of people, animals, and other living beings, and thus having the space to develop their activities,” said Professor Villalobos.

It should be noted that field trips constitute a didactic strategy that allows one to verify in one place what was learned in the classroom or to gather information in an experiential way on a topic worked on. This allows learning to be contextualized in a specific place and time, and thus be able to work on scientific inquiry in the local space.

“It is important to consider for the teaching of science, the geographical space and socio-scientific aspects, which are strategies that link teachers and students with places in their city or context, promoting knowledge of the territory through identification, knowledge and/or or resolution of socio-scientific problems, developing scientific skills and contributing to citizen education,” concluded Professor Brayan Omar Castillo, coordinator in Field and Logistics.

Virtual Terrain activities can be reviewed at http://icecregiondecoquimbo.cl/terreno-virtual/

Written by Daniela Ledezma, ICEC