Construcción del saber didáctico para docentes de física en formación: un estudio de caso

Abstract

This paper seeks to characterize the presence of curricular content on physics teaching in Physics degree programs offered by Colombian public higher education institutions. The study examined undergraduate programs at the National Pedagogical University, the Francisco José de Caldas District University, the University of Antioquia, the University of Valle, and a graduate program at the Technological University of Pereira. The research adopted a mixed methodology (qualitative and quantitative) under a case study design. A documentary review of the program curricula was conducted, as well as official documents available on the institutions' websites. This was complemented by a statistical study of the presence of subjects associated with the different training components. The analysis was deepened through structured interviews with the program coordinators, in which the curriculum design process and the justification for the didactic components were investigated. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics, as well as categorization of the texts constructed using the ATLAS.ti software. This allowed for a comparative study of discourses and content through the construction of tables, graphs, and diagrams. The results indicate that, although all recognize the importance of didactic training for future teachers, the focus and structure of the curricula vary considerably. Recent adjustments to the curricula have made it possible to respond to emerging needs and strengthen the training of future physics teachers, as it is generally considered that there is still much room for improvement, including the projection of a greater presence of training in physics didactics. Very diverse distributions of intensity were observed among the disciplinary, pedagogical, and didactic components, reflecting different approaches and training intentions. Based on the curricula, it can be inferred that there are separate developments between physics learning and physics didactics. Furthermore, each university understands the meaning of Physics Didactics in a unique way. For example, while the Universidad del Valle has the greatest emphasis on Didactics, the Universidad de Antioquia has zero presence in this component because it includes these topics in the pedagogy component. Meanwhile, the Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas and the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional have a lower intensity compared to the Universidad del Valle, and are roughly the same, but the course titles are different. The graduate program is the only one that presents equal intensity in the disciplinary, pedagogical, and didactic components. When summarizing the topics covered by the courses in this area through the course titles, it is found that they address topics such as classroom activities, technologies, experimentation, language, communication, inclusion, diversity, contexts, school cultures, outreach, pedagogical practice, educational policy, socio-scientific issues, history, philosophy, epistemology, argumentation, critical thinking, and research. However, each university combines all or some of these themes with varying degrees of presence, creating a unique pattern. This reflects current tensions within the physics teaching and research community regarding how to understand the teachability of this field, how to educate professionals to transform their roles and understandings of student learning, and even more so, the boundaries between pedagogy and didactics, or between physics teaching and physics.