El passat 1 de desembre va tenir lloc a la Universitat de Lleida la lectura de tesi doctoral de l'Alba Guiral Herrera: Aprenentatge dialògic de les ciències per indagació amb suport de tecnologia 2.0: un estudi en la formació inicial del professor, sota la supervisió de la Dra. Manoli Pifarré.

Els membres del tribunal van ser: Mercè Garcia Milà (Universitat de Barcelona), Jaume Ametller (Universitat de Girona) i Manel Ibáñez (Universitat de Lleida). El tribunal va atorgar a la tesi doctoral una qualificació d'Excel.lent Cum laude.

Dialogical learning of the sciences by inquiry with support of technology 2.0: a study in initial teacher training

Abstract:
Several reports from around the world have pointed to the disinterest of youth for science, specifically in Europe, where a lack of scientific vocations has been found for years. Among the measures to correct this fact, researchers have emphasized the need to innovate the pedagogical strategies used in scientific education, and look for new methodologies to bring science closer to children and young people who go along the pace of progress and changes in today's society. This thesis aims to contribute to promoting this change in science education. Therefore, in this dissertation, a teaching innovation project is designed, implemented and evaluated in the field of teacher training, which is one of the strategies to initiate this change.
Besides, this thesis proposes a pedagogical framework that promotes inquiry based dialogic science education supported by 2.0 technologies. The innovative project implemented and evaluated in this thesis has been designed following the pedagogical framework proposed. This project is framed in the area of the Earth Sciences, it is called "Bec o no?" and used the technological platform called Metafora. Specifically, the Metafora environment integrates various learning scaffolds specially designed to support scientific inquiry and the key aspects of learning to learn together. Some of these scaffolds are visual language tools that facilitate the planning and organization of the key scientific processes involved in the development of the inquiry. As a whole, learning scaffolds that are included in Metafora, facilitate visual thinking, and promote the generation of a dialogical space in which groups can share the scientific meaning generation and the development of inquiry learning skills.
Using a case study methodology and multimethod analysis of the process and the learning outcomes of pre-service teachers, it is intended to investigate whether the educational intervention of the "Bec o no?" promotes scientific meaning generation on students, the acquisition and improvement of inquiry skills and collaborative learning processes.
First, the results show that the educational characteristics of the pedagogical framework promote scientific meaning generation, develop and improve key science inquiry skills and enhances learn to learn together skills. Learning and collective science thinking have been the results of dialogical interaction with the members of the project during its development. Second, the results show that the project has contributed to promoting effective collaborative learning processes. Third, group thinking developed during the project has added a positive value to the learning outcome of all groups of students, regardless of the starting point of the different members who participated.
Finally, this thesis aims to contribute to the promotion of dialogic education in the field of scientific inquiry. The proposed pedagogical framework may be a tool that favors a better training for pre-service teachers in science and helps to change the way in which children and young people are educated in science.

Keywords: inquiry, dialogic learning, teacher education, collaborative learning, group thinking, dialogic space, scientific meaning generation, inquiry skills, learning scaffolding, 2.0 technology, Metafora.