“La previa”: a learning strategy in chemistry practice

Abstract

In this article, we present a didactic strategy with the objective of making the Chemistry laboratory a place for teaching and learning promoting the active involvement of the student in the experimental design.

This arises after thinking of our own teaching practice looking for a balance between what is systematic and what is confusing during the process of building new knowledge in the laboratory.

Before starting with the Practical Work itself, the student is asked to think about a specific problematic situation, generally from daily life and with an open answer, with the aim of promoting integration of previous knowledge and individual skills with other contents offered in other teaching–learning instances within the area (seminars, notes, problem classes, group discussions). In this way, the discussion that takes place previous to the laboratory work will find each student more involved in the dialogue with tools to enrich the exchange of ideas.