“Teaching to work is the teacher's task. To work with the hands, with the ears, with the eyes and then and above all, with the intelligence. ” (Enrique José Varona, 1901)
INTRODUCTION
One of the most important tasks in the current stage of continuous improvement of the Cuban educational system is to ensure that students play an active role in the teaching-educational process, in order to develop the intellectual skills and abilities that allow them to orient themselves correctly in the scientific-technical literature, as well as applying the knowledge acquired in an active and creative way.
Knowledge is of fundamental importance in the content of teaching. In this way they are understood, in it, as a general system of concepts, principles, laws, facts and theories that constitute the basis of the sciences on nature, society and thought.
It should be noted the fact that not all scientific information, nor all the volume of knowledge that people will subsequently use in their work activity, can be provided at school. This means that even after the end of school, the individual must continue completing their knowledge, that is, they must continue studying and learning, so it is necessary during the teaching-learning process to provide students with general procedures and techniques that allow them to appropriate them logically and independently.
In the pedagogical projection of Marti's thought, there is a great concern for teaching that activates the intelligent faculties, which can be seen in the following approach: "… there is no better education system than that which prepares the child to learn for himself." (Martí. J, p.421)
With the improvement of the National System of Education in Cuba, it has been advocated to place the student at the center of the teaching-educational process, assigning an active role to him in the appropriation of his knowledge, and propitiating in this process the need to exercise the operations of thought, so as to avoid the mechanism in learning; This aspect was criticized by our great pedagogues such as Félix Varela and José de la Luz y Caballero, in this sense the latter stated: “I do not even understand how certain sciences can be taught by heart without the person who teaches them being horrified by the results he achieves, and a very poor idea of human nature must have who so cruelly chains the reason that alone is capable of so many wonders. ”(Luz y Caballero. J, p.566)
The concepts in Physics, as in the other subjects, constitute the epistemological basis of it and through its knowledge and application it is possible to enter the domain of its field of study. These concepts begin to be studied in the basic secondary, although they have their antecedents in the primary, and they expand and deepen in the pre-university, in this way they allow establishing relationships between the objects, phenomena and processes that are studied and, from these, arrive at judgments and reasoning, thus enabling the systematic training of logical operations of thought and enhancing the intellectual development of the student, hence the importance of its proper didactic treatment.
Numerous researchers have dedicated themselves to the study of the concept formation process, among which are: Vigotsky, L. S (1982); Talízina, N (1988); López, M (1990); García, L (1982); Concepción, R (1989), just to mention a few. Those who have made contributions to the teaching and learning of concepts, such as: the phased training of mental actions, the development of skills, the use of exercise systems and tasks for their training, among others.
In the assimilation of concepts, a very important role is played by problems, since they activate the attention and thought of the students and their cognitive activity. During the resolution of a problem the fundamental characteristics of the concepts are analyzed, their precision, their comparison and the confrontation of the characteristics during the formation of the concept with those that they previously possessed, the establishment of the relationships of the given concept with others, the classification of the concepts and their application. (Sierra. C. J, p.41)
The physics teaching process must take into account problem teaching as a way to activate the cognitive performance of students, since through it it is possible to achieve an appropriation of knowledge with an adequate scientific level, as well as guarantee high interest. and motivation for the study of our subject. In this way, there is a development of habits and skills and greater independence in cognitive activity, in the same way the creative capacities reach a higher level of development.
However, there is a consensus among teachers that the problems in teaching Physics present great difficulties for students when it comes to solving them, some believe that this is because they do not understand the topics covered, their mathematical knowledge is insufficient, they do not make a comprehensive reading of the problem or do not have the necessary skills for it. (Gil. D, p.38). In our opinion, criteria of this type, which reflect a conception of teaching as a process of transmission and reception, are in direct contradiction with the objectives of problem solving and contribute to taking an unfertile position for the process of Physics teaching and learning.
In this sense, the author considers that one of the most suitable ways to achieve full domination of the conceptual apparatus of Physics and of the methodological elements for the creative application of this knowledge, is the resolution of problems, since all this leads in the students an investigative spirit.
DEVELOPING
Man's knowledge of objective reality begins with sensoperceptions and passes from thought to them. This goes beyond the sensory-intuitive and extends knowledge thanks to its mediated nature, allowing us to discover what is not immediately given in perception. Thought relates sensations and perceptions, opposes them, compares them and distinguishes them, revealing connections and mediations between them. Discovering the relationships and connections between objects and phenomena in reality is an essential task of thought. This reflects not only relationships and connections, but also the qualities and character of phenomena. (Rubinstein. S. L, 1982)
Through the logical forms of thought, namely: concepts, judgments and reasoning, man can explain the reality that surrounds him and form his scientific conception of the world, in this way his action is based on conscious acts.
All essential modifications of the activity and behavior of the subjects in their development process, which originate from a preceding activity and which are not caused directly by innate physiological manifestations, are considered learning.
Learning is a dialectical process of change, through it the person appropriates the constructed social culture and has a multiform nature, which is expressed in the diversity of its contents, processes and conditions. (Castellanos. D et al., 1999). Thus, the latter will consist in the active search for knowledge, in the application of it and the skills and capacities already acquired, to the solution of the problems that arise, in the self-evaluation and self-evaluation of the process itself.
Given the plural and multifaceted nature of learning, the diversity of paradigms, theories, currents and approaches that are proposed for its understanding is explained. The lack of existence of a single theory that unifies the criteria on said process, is directly related to the various positions that are based on the human being, which influences the social and individual subjectivity of each researcher of the problem, without ignoring the multiple types of learning.
The different psychological currents and pedagogical tendencies that exist about learning constitute, for the most part, models obtained in experimental situations, which attempt to explain it, under certain fixed conditions. When studying them, it becomes evident that in one way or another they have some rational foundation, since they have been confirmed to a greater or lesser extent in some particular context, despite having been refuted in others. Therefore, it is difficult for a theory to be totally erroneous and that it also does not contain a proposal for reasonable action. (Ausubel et al., 1991).
From now on, due to its close relationship with the scientific problem to be solved and the object of the investigation, it will be particularized in how the teaching-learning process is seen, in essence, in the light of cognitive pedagogy, operative pedagogy and cultural historical approach.
The first of them supported by the psychological analysis of the processes of the knowledge of the man, emphasizes in the active character that they have, considering that the education must develop them, reason why the students must learn to learn, employ self-regulating learning skills and of thought, as well as promoting curiosity, doubt, creativity, reasoning and imagination (Carlos. J, 1993). The teacher must present the study material in an organized, interesting and coherent way, having identified previous knowledge. that the students have to relate them to those who are going to learn.
The student is an active provider of information and responsible for his own learning.
Learning is conceived as the result of a systematic and organized process whose main purpose is the qualitative restructuring of people's schemes, perceptions or concepts.
Cognitive pedagogy gives special significance to what occurs within the subject, but some didactics who assume it consider that the interaction with the environment occurs from the arrangement of prefixed structures in the subject or of certain stages, for which teaching should wait for developmental processes that are genetically preset to occur; some even deny teaching and therefore only acknowledge learning.
With the development of science and technique, cognitivism has given special importance to the processing of information, considering that the student only sees the world processing information, so that in some way human learning is equaled with what happens. in a computer. The information processing proposal ignores the subjective nature of human knowledge, since it absolutizes that it is the product of the perception, reception, storage (memory) and retrieval of information.
Among the aspects of greater application emphasize the proposal and development of learning strategies to promote self-learning, giving great importance to learning to learn, which translate into acquisition of search skills and use of information, since they argue that before the Rapid aging of knowledge requires mastering strategies that highlight how to think instead of what to think. Thus, teaching should be aimed at promoting the mastery of cognitive, metacognitive, self-regulatory strategies and the induction of representations of knowledge (schemas).
Based on the work carried out by Piaget collaborators and followers. J (1896-1980) was shown the possibility of activating intellectual development through learning directed at operative notions, and thus, in the 1970s, operative pedagogy emerged, the essence of which lies in considering that knowledge is a construction carried out by the individual through his activity with the environment, stressing that the knowledge of reality will be more or less understandable for the subject depending on the intellectual instruments they possess, the operative structures of their thinking. From this conception, it is considered that education should be aimed at favoring the development of these operative structures and helping individuals to build their own systems of thought.
The teacher assumes the role of counselor, guide or facilitator of learning. It creates the conditions for the constructive interaction between the student and the object of knowledge to occur, making the student understand that he can not only learn through others, but also by himself.
The student is considered an active builder of their knowledge, based on the natural and spontaneous maturation of their cognitive structures.
Learning is understood in terms of assimilation that requires accommodation by the learner. He organizes what is provided to him according to his previous intellectual instruments and knowledge through a balancing process aimed at reorganizing new knowledge schemes.
Although one of the most important achievements of operative pedagogy is the assumption of the active and leading role of the learning subject, from the development of their cognitive structures, she insists excessively on the cognitive, considering society as mediatizing the individual development and not the direct responsible for it. For this reason, she does not understand that teaching is essentially developer-oriented and not only facilitator of the individual's intellectual processes.
The cultural historical approach, as the foundation of a pedagogical conception, sustained in dialectical and historical materialism, reveals ample possibilities to be applied in societies that enhance the individual development of all its members, inserting them socially as subjects of history. This approach started from the Vigotsky historical-cultural school. L. S (1896-1934) and continued by his followers, has crossed the borders of his country of origin. (Canfux. V et al., 1996)
Its psychological foundation is fundamentally focused on the integral development of the personality, trying to overcome the traditional tendencies that have directed its interest to the cognitive sphere of man. In this way, Vigotsky considers development as: “a complex dialectical process, characterized by multiple periodicity, by a disproportion in the development of the different functions, by metamorphoses or qualitative transformations from one form to another, by the complicated interweaving of the processes of evolution and involution, by the intertwined relationship between internal and external factors and by the intricate process of overcoming difficulties and adaptation ”(Vigotsky. L. S, 1987, p.151)
For Vigotsky, the study of the relationships between development and learning proved to be central. In this sense, he stated that: "when the child assimilates different operations at school, apparently in a purely external way, we actually see that the acquisition of any new operation is the result of the development process" (Vygotsky, L. S, 1987, p.167)
According to him, we should not limit ourselves to the simple determination of the evolutionary levels of development, contrary to what Piaget expressed, but rather their relationships with the learning possibilities of the students should be revealed. Thus he reveals at least two evolutionary levels: that of his real possibilities and that of his possibilities to learn with the help of others.
The difference between these two levels, Vigotsky called the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), defining it as the distance that exists between the level of real development and the level of potential development.
Assuming the cultural-historical conception, supposes a teaching in function to promote the psychic development. Thus, she will be directed to the study of the possibilities and to the assurance of the conditions that promote the student's elevation to higher levels through collaboration, thus achieving independent mastery of her functions.
The teacher performs directive and non-directive functions at different times, acting as the expert who guides and mediates the knowledge that the student must learn, must promote the ZPD and stimulate the active participation of the students in the appropriation of the teaching content.
The student constitutes the center of attention, as a conscious, active and goal-oriented subject, in interaction with other subjects, executing actions on the object and using the different means in the concrete socio-historical conditions.
Learning is considered as a social activity and not only as a process of individual fulfillment. Thus it is understood as an activity of reproduction and production of knowledge through which the child assimilates the social modes of activity and interaction, first, and later in school, the bases of scientific knowledge in conditions of orientation and social interaction. (Canfux. V, 1996), (Silvestre. M, 2000), (Zilberstein. J, 2000), (Castellanos. D, 2002)
At this moment of the analysis it is necessary to study some definitions of learning provided by researchers on the subject that are framed within this pedagogical approach, which also constitutes the theoretical support on which the author of the thesis bases his proposals.
According to Silvestre. M: "Learning is a process in which the student actively participates, led by the teacher, appropriating the first of knowledge, skills and abilities, in communication with others, in a socialization process that favors the formation of values" (Silvestre. M, 2000, p.8)
For Bermúdez. A, is: "Process of modification of the performance, by the individual, who acquires experience based on his adaptation to the contexts in which the environment with which he relates is specified." (Bermúdez. R, 1996, p.87)
When analyzing the essence features contained in both definitions, no significant discrepancies appear, although Silvestre. M includes an element that, in the author's opinion, limits learning to school, when identifying it as directed by the teacher. This limits the real understanding of this process, which is carried out in multiple contexts and in which various factors intervene. In this way, the opinion of the second cited author is shared, since learning is permanent and takes shape in the relationships that the individual establishes with his environment. Interpersonal relationships have a marked influence on it, but it is characterized by being individualized.
A more explicit and complete definition that makes it easier for teachers to understand said process and puts it in better conditions to direct it more effectively at school, according to the author of the thesis, is “The dialectical process of appropriation of content and forms of knowing, doing, living together and being, built on the socio-historical experience, in which, as a result of the individual's activity and interaction with other people, relatively lasting and generalizable changes occur, which allow him to adapt to the reality, transforming it and growing as a personality ”. (Castellanos. D and others, 2002, p.24)
This conceptualization is framed in the postulates of developer learning, declared by the author quoted above, and specified in three general dimensions that manifest in dialectical interaction: activation-regulation, significance and motivation to learn.
The author considers that the learning of concepts cannot take place apart from developer learning, but is included in it.
From Gagné's conception. A, the word learning has two meanings, one of them referring to learning as a process and the other to learning as a product. In the first one, it includes, within the types of learning, the learning of concepts that according to him: "is the type of learning that makes it possible for the individual to respond to objects, events and processes, considering them within a class or category". (Moreno. L et al., 1989, p.214)
The author of the work considers that although the learning of concepts is a complex process, it is incorrect to frame it only in the first of the meanings, because it is also the result, that is, when learning a concept the student goes through the stages of apprehension, internalization and fixation-application, seen in this way is only a process, but when the student is able to use it to efficiently solve a task, be it teaching or life, then they speak of the result, something already obtained, of what they can dispose to act.
CONCLUSIONS
In this work, it has been observed that the learning of concepts is the process and the result of the integrated execution of the skills: definition of the concept, exemplification of it and application of its content to the solution of problems. Starting from understanding the need for your study and having the disposition to face it, mobilizing your personal resources based on learning characterized by a search, conscious, active and reflective processing of the information that allows you to use it in problem solving, acting on the object of knowledge in conditions of exchange with other subjects.
In this way, active and reflective learning will be achieved if strategies are used in the educational process of the students that allow them to learn concepts from the elaboration of their content in conditions of collaboration and exchange. For this purpose, the teacher is required to know what the learning strategies are and how they can be applied in the direction of the referred process. In this sense, the concepts that are currently being debated about learning strategies will be analyzed in the following section.
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