Extracción de ADN con material cotidiano: diseño, implementación y validación de una intervención activa interdisciplinar

Abstract

Traditional practical activities in science, based on following detailed instructions, do not provide satisfactory learning outcomes. This is due in part to the lack of effective applicability for students, the absence of an interdisciplinary perspective and the lack an active involvement of students in practice resolution. One alternative is to use an enquiry-based approach in which students research and elaborate its own protocol guided by teacher. In this contribution, we describe and validate an educational intervention focused on interdisciplinary active learning to increase the availability of practical activities for secondary and bachelor students as well as prospective teachers. An enquiry-based approach is followed to guide the process of DNA extraction using household materials. This activity gets students involved in finding, interpreting, and explaining some scientific fundamentals of Chemistry, Physics, and Biology. The effectiveness of the educational intervention was estimated during three successive academic years. Results support the hypothesis that this educational intervention favours interdisciplinary learning.