Activities to strengthen the value responsibility (página 2)

3- What teaching activities could be designed to strengthen the value responsibility through the English lessons, in first year students of the Accountant specialty at "Asdrúbal López Vázquez" Politechnial Institute?

4- What level of effectiveness will the teaching activities have in the strengthening of the value responsibility in first year students of the Accountant specialty at "Asdrúbal López Vázquez" Politechnical Institute?

SCIENTIFIC TASKS

1- To elaborate the theorical-referencial mark of the investigation that supports the formation of values at the moment.

2- To diagnose the current state of the formation of values through the application of different instruments.

3- To design teaching activities that allow to strengthen the value responsibility through the English lessons in first year students of the Accountant specialty at "Asdrúbal López Vázquez" Politechnical Institute.

4- To evaluate the level of effectiveness the teaching activities will have in the strengthening of the value responsibility in first year students of the Accountant specialty at "Asdrúbal López Vázquez" Politechnical Institute.

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  Methods applied

• Theoretical level

– Analysis and synthesis: It permitted the authoresses to study the theoretical aspects related with the formation of values in the students, specifically the moral value of responsibility, as well as to carry out this process through the teaching of English language in the Professional Technical Education.

-Induction and deduction: It was applied with the purpose of carrying out the necessary valuation to strengthen the value responsibility in the students of the Professional Technical Education. Also, it permitted to arrive at conclusions.

-Analysis of the school documentation: By means of it, the authoresses were able to obtain information about fundamental theoretical aspects of the investigation object. The following documents were revised: Plan of studies of the specialty Accountant, Basic Ideas for the Transformations in the Superior Half Education, the Program of Accounting first years and the English"s Program for the branches of Services, Industrial, Agricultural, Computer science and Accountant.

– Historic- logical: It allowed to state the history of the problem.

• Empiric level

-Interview: It helped the authoresses to verify the level of knowledge of the topic in question and the attention paid to it.

-Inquiry: It was applied to know if the teaching activities carried out by the teachers help the students to be more responsible and to gather different aspects related with the application of the teaching activities proposed.

-Observation: It allowed to check the practical activities related with the value responsibility and the way of the students´ performance for their later analysis. Also, it permitted the authoresses to verify the level of effectiveness of the teaching activities .

• Mathematical and Statistical level

-Percentage calculation: It was applied for quantifying the date obtained through the instruments applied.

THEORETICAL CONTRIBUTION

There were offered a proposal of some teaching activities directed to strengthen the value responsibility in first year students of the Accountant specialty at "Asdrúbal López Vázquez" Politechnical Institute.

SCIENTIFIC NOVELTY

The following investigation presents a set of activities with a creative character that contribute to keep in mind and be conscious of the importance of the value responsibility, in this way to obtain a correct strengthen of the deteriorated value in the students.

STRUCTURED OF THE WORK

This Diploma Paper is structured with the following parts: introduction, development, conclusions, recommendations, bibliographical references, bibliography and annexes.

DEVELOPMENT

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  Some considerations about values. Definition

The Cuban society is engaged in achieving a new man, according with the technical scientific progress, a man able to think, feel an act in correspondence with what the society demands and requires from him. This work depends fundamentally on the school as an educational institution.

In correspondence with the different consulted sources it could be appreciated that there exists criteria in regard to the definition of values, with which the authoresses of this work fully coincide.

Then, it is necessary to wonder:

What are values?

• "Value is defined as the significance of the object for the individual, that is to say the degree of importance that has the thing for the man that is linked into that object." (2)

• "The values are always the result of the valuations of a specific reflect process of the conscience. They express the importance, the significance of the reality or of a certain phenomena for the man." (3)

• Value: quality of the things for what they are desirable or undesirable. Meaning or importance of something. (4)

• "Have values is to estimate an object, a principle. Is to place the things in the order of importance, is to decide what is more important and when to defend it. Is to place and hierarchize the material and spiritual wealth in order of importance" (5)

• "…, have values is to appreciate in a high degree the elements of our culture, the human relationships, the people, and the given political, moral systems, that affect the individual, the home, the school and the society in general." (6)

After the analysis of these definitions, the authoresses consider that all of them have a great validity. They reflect the essence of the values and they coincide in the existentence of a relationship between the individual and the object in which this influences or is linked. Values are forms of social significance that play a positive role in the development of the society. They are the meaning that has the things for the man.

It is significant to answer the following question:

What is responsibility?

• Responsibility: duty of answer the own facts an others. (7)

• Responsibility: duty, commitment, fulfillment. Sense of duty. (8)

• "The social responsibility is characteristic of a person in which we can trust, who fulfill its promise, who respect its work, who is a just person, who do not take advantages or deceive other persons, who think in the well of others more than in its own well." (Harris, 1957) (9)

• Responsibility: is the capacity to value the consequences that have, in the society, the actions and decisions that take the different persons and organizations as a part of the fulfillment of its own objectives and goals. (10)

Analysing these concepts it can be pointed out that they coincide in the fact that there is a duty, an obligation and a compromise to be fulfilled by the individual in a given task. Responsibility in its more elementary level is to fulfill with what have been engaged. Being responsible is to assume the consequences of our actions and decisions. It implies sense of duty, commitment. It is also based on the will of fulfilling goals, the sense of knowledge, which is expressed in the fulfilment of social tasks and the individual behaviors.

To work from the first ages, and during the student"s stage, constitutes a primordial task of the educational system to form, develop and strengthen, continuously, as essential values the conscious incorporation of integrity, responsibility, simplicity, honesty, collectivism, mutual help, love to the homeland, to their heroes and martyrs, respect to their symbols, antimperialism, love to work, respect to the old persons and the care to the social property and of the nature, among others that are included within the integral formation of the individual.

Within this pedagogical conception, the teacher has an essential function in the direction of the process and changes of certain values.

1.1- Importance of the formation of values.

The historical continuity of our Revolutionary process depends to a great extend on the formation of values. The values contribute to have a person, an institution or a society establish their directions, goals and aims. They constitute general guides of behavior that are derived from the experience and that give sense to life, propitiate its quality in such a way that they are closely related to the person"s realization and promote good things for the community and the society in general.

The formation of values has great importance for the development of the socialist personality, to achieve that the youth assume a correct participation in the construction of a new society. It is the formation of values what should rule, guide the youth"s behavior in general, and determine their attitudes and ways of acting.

The values are an important part of the spiritual and ideological life of the society and of the internal world of the individuals. They are a production of the conscience (social and individual) and they exist, in unity and different from antivalues. The formation of values should be the reflection and the expression of true relationships that constitute important regulations in man"s life.

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  Psychological, Pedagogical and Philosophical foundations that support the formation of values at the moment

Nowadays, the world lives different times, of deep changes in the international area and of great internal changes. Our Revolution is obliged to face these conditions that demand the guiding of values that identify the revolutionary Cuba. To strengthen the socialization aimed at the formation of values, it is very important to elevate the power of persuasion in the educational and political work. For this, it is necessary to combine three elements:

1- Bigger information: It can not be forgotten that the level of instruction the youth has today demands that the educational and political work should be carried out with solid, up to date arguments, with objective interpretations of the happenings in Cuba and all over the world, without stereotypes.

2- Bigger participation: Above all as generators of tasks of compromise and social implication. The participation in the work should be the center of attention.

3- Stimulus politics: Aiming at the identification, hierarchization and stimulation of positive examples.

The circumstances of the Cuba life, nowadays, facilitate the coherent socializing action with the social goals of three institutions: the school, the mass media, specially the radio and the television, and the political and mass organizations.

In accordance to these efforts, the school has a decisive role, for which it is necessary to emphasize in the transformations of the educative work guided to foment the educative more than the instructive process.

This means among other actions:

• To teach to think, not to store information, that is to say to be transformed from a mechanism that offers information into one that contributes to foment the creativeness and the autonomy to face any situation.

• To teach not to develop partial technical abilities, but to understand the social totality.

• To promote changes in the aspirations of the youth that make possible their roles as producer more than that of consumer and reorient the qualification demands to the real conditions, so as to guarantee the school attention in spite of the restrictions.

The revolutionary changes carried out in Cuba since the triumph of the Revolution brought about a process of substitution of the old capitalist values by others derived from the socialist character of the new society.

The new social conditions constitute a group of positive educative influences that are manifested in the great majority of the youth. Nevertheless, the need to strengthen the shaping of values in the new generations by means of a solid process of assimilation in which there is the influence of both the cognitive aspect (the known and understood) and of the affective aspect (the satisfactions that the presence of these new and higher values produce in the individual, the creation of new necessities and motives), emphasize on the importance of such a relevant pedagogical task assigned to the school.

The ideological confrontations with a near enemy and the interested features of the past do not liberate children, adolescents and the young from the negative educative influences that carry non accepted values and about to disappear.

In the socialist society, the school is the place in charge of a social, fundamental and complex role: the formation of the new generations to enable them to defend and develop the conquests of socialism as well as to participate in an active and creative way in those conquests of the new society.

Such responsibility presupposes the development of a personality that characterizes the future man, multifarious and harmoniously develops, as constant fighter for the socialist and communist values.

2.1- Psychological analysis of the formation of values.

Values are neither the result of a comprehension nor the result of passive information tied to the individual. Values are shaped through the individual that forms and develop them, that is, the individual increases the value by means of his / her personal history, his experience, and a key aspect by means of his own language.

It is for this reason that when values are analysed from the psychological point of view, it is necessary to know that the individual is that organization of the psychic world everyone has, structured to be the basis of the individual differences.

A content that does not provoke emotions, that does not stimulate the identity, that does not move affective emotions can forms values. It is good to point out that they are established at a psychological level in two different ways:

• The formal values that regulate man"s behavior in case of pressure or external control situations.

• The personalized values, legitimate and authentic expressions of the individual that assumes them, which are the values that should be fomented in the socialist society nowadays.

Values do not exist in abstract, they exist integrated to other aspects of man"s subjective world, projection towards the future, sense of life, and the conceptions of life mediate the expression and the configuration of values.

Essential values can be found as: love to work, to the homeland and its history, to the family, to children, to old men and to the nature. The development of integrity, honesty, responsibility, solidarity and the sense of common well being, the education of duties and rights of the citizen, and the social discipline, in fact a man fit to live in any society and precisely in today"s Cuban society.

Shaping of values, from one point of view, constitute, essentially, an educative work that becomes the guide of an action.

2.2- Pedagogical analysis of the formation of values.

The formation of values constitutes a basic process for the evaluation of the educational quality. The school has the important role to face, day by day, the situations that are produced related to the values that should be formed in the new generations.

For the determination and hierachization of the system of values to be formed in the students, according to the purpose of the Cuban education, in the concrete historical context, in the corresponding characterization to each age and level, the following aspects should be kept in mind:

• The stages of the formation of values, according to the conception and positive social meaning of the content.

• Subjective process in which according to the stages of its formation, the values are transformed into the content of: the principles (rules and more general moral demands with a socio-historical and classit character and that the individual choose in front of the conflicts, dilemmas and in their daily lives, the orientations and scales of values built during the formative process).

• Determination of the axiological humanist component in the relationship science-values-discipline-program-subject keeping in mind the interdisciplinary relationship for the educative actions of the pedagogical staff.

• Operation process of these values that constitute object of the educative work, for this, it is necessary to have: a brief and clear definition of the meaning of values, the features that contribute to develop in the personality (indicators of quality and specific attitudes) and the educative actions that the teacher proposes himself to propitiate the development of these features, here it should be kept in mind the types of activities of the teacher and of the students.

The actions should be stated in three spheres, intimately interrelated: actions of the subjects, actions of the interpersonal relationship teacher-student, teacher-teacher, teacher-family and community, as well as actions in the off class activities that comprise the design of the general education activities of the school, according to the objective proposed for the course.

To contribute to the formation of values a teacher should pay attention to the cognitive components in a closed relation with the affective-volitive and ideological aspects; the moral experience accumulated in these relations on the daily life behavior that is why it can be affirmed that the teacher plays a significant role in all the process of formation of values in its students.

A teacher should know, not only the content of the subject taught, but also the characteristics of his students, of their family, the community in which they live, to plan the necessary actions and to work and solve their personal and educative needs.

The work of the teachers should be carried out indirectly, when putting into practice the education in the staff but always paying attention to the individual differences.

A basic task of the political, ideological and moral education is to precise, to specify the qualities that should be formed in adolescents and young people, to transform them in stable values.

The knowledge teachers have of the students´ peculiarities is of great importance for the successful development of the educative teaching process. Each student, as individual, is different to other persons; he has his own characteristics that make him unique and non-respected. To know these characteristics, the observation is fundamental: the way they pay attention to lessons, their attitude towards the school tasks and activities, those who they prefer, if they like to be alone, if their are sad or happy, if they act against bad done facts or take advantage of those situations for their own benefits.

The first thing that is recommended is that while observing the students in the different activities it is necessary to distinguish those who are more popular and those who remain isolated from the rest. It recommended to explore what they think about friendship, aid and good fellowship. It is very important for the teachers to know the position the students have in regard to the acceptance or the rejection of their friends. To know who they are, to offer the necessary help according to the particular situation.

However this observation is completed with the individual conversation, mainly with those who are less talkative. Take advantage of the recess; take some minutes outside the class, during any independent activity, in a party or in an informal activity that has been prepared. It is also of great help the conversations with their parents or the visit to their houses. All this gives an approximate image of each student, their psycho-pedagogical characterization.

During the youth it is presented as social situation of the specific development that determines important transformations in systems of activities, communication and of significance changes in the psychological characteristics of the age (that comprises approximately from 15 or 16 to 22 or 23 years old).

The interrelation between the internal and external condition of the psychic development is expressed in the youth"s new social position: it is in the mature life and in the attitude that assumes in front of this social position; there is great concern about the future and necessity to determine a place in life.

The activity of studying, for the youth becomes an activity of professional formation. The youth must select the profession and get ready conveniently for the labor life. They are interested in the social phenomena and that of the living reality. The conception of the world is formed step by step, and this will permit all the analysis and interpretations of the nature, of other persons and of themselves. There is also produced a development of the self-conscience, self valuation; interests and ideals which place them, closer, to the way of thinking and acting of the adults. Their affective life and the spheres of interests are widened. Also, the interpersonal relationships are consolidated and the relations with the couple are more stable and mature. This young is able to value the situations in which he is involved in a flexive, reflexive and objective way.

The role of parents and teachers continues being essential for the young people, since they need their advices, valuation and guidance to learn to be adults and act consciously as they do.

2.3- Philosophical analysis of the formation of values.

From the philosophical point of view, values can be analysed from three different areas:

• 1. Values as part of the social reality itself. Each object phenomenon, behavior, idea or conception, each result of the human activity plays a given function in the society, favors or blocks its progressive development, and in such a sense it is a positive or a negative value.

Values determine the individual behavior in a society, the way to act, of facing the reality and the problems as well as the way to assume attitudes in different situations.

• 2. Each social individual forms its own subjective system of values than can posses a bigger or smaller degree of coincidence with the objective system of values, depending on the level of coincidence of the particular interests of an individual with the general interests of the society, and also depending on the educative and cultural interests influences that individual receives and the norms and principles that remain in the society he lives in.

• 3. The society should be organized and work in the orbit of a system of values officially instituted and recognized. From this institutionalized system, the official ideology, the internal and external policy, the right, the formal education, are spread.

The values that are form in the youth conscience are the result of the influence of the objectives values of the social reality and of the institutionalized values that get to the youth in forms of political, ideological and pedagogical speech. One or another influence is carried out through different mediations: the family, the school and the social organizations.

The Cuban youth is considering to have those values in a general sense, but, at the same time, it can be observed that there are symptoms of crisis of values in some young people. However the fact that it is only a part of the youth, it does not mean that it is not considered an urgent problem. That part is part of the Cuban youth, and it may be continue increasing. That is why; the facing to this problem can not be postponed.

3- Real Situation of the Problem.

The teachers, in their daily work, have to keep in mind that values are not established externally, they are the formation of individuals and at the same time they arrive for a process that is developed in a given social system. Therefore the formation and appropriation of these, are essentially an educational result, where have been manifested the ideology as a form of the social conscience, that is why we should take them and strengthen them taking into consideration the demands of the socialist system.

In the process of the formation of values it is important for adolescents know what the adults and the society expect from them, what it is understood by being responsible, studious and disciplined. To achieve this, the family and mainly the teachers are carriers of positive examples that should be followed.

To determine the real situation of the investigation, there were selected as sample 110 students of all the groups of first year of the Accountant specialty at "Asdrúbal López Vázquez" Politechnical Institute, representing a 52,4 % of the total students registered which constitute the universe, that are 210 students.

By means of the application of different instruments it could be determinated the different situations that form, in a general sense, the scientific problem of this research. The most significance results are presented as follows:

In regard to the Initial Diagnosis (Annex 1) applied to the selected students, it could be proved that they do not always show a responsible attitude towards the different tasks stated to them, as it can be seen in the results obtained a 67, 3% answered that they would not help in the preparation of the Bulletin Board in the classroom because they are not in charge of this task. It was also demonstrated that in some occasions, they do not accomplish some tasks and assigned works with the required responsibility; even in their daily performance, their behavior in different situations of their daily lives corroborate what it was stated before.

According to the results obtained through the application of an Inquiry to the students (Annex 3) it could be seen that the majority of the teachers contribute to the shaping of moral values. However, while inquiring about the frequency this happens, the data obtained indicate that it occurs the other way. The number of the students that consider that it is never or sometimes (36,3% and 50%) is remarkable high. Taking into consideration this fact, it could be add that teachers should increase the frequency of the work they do to foster these values through their lessons mainly that referred to responsibility. The fourth question was made to know if the exercises were really useful to reinforce the value responsibility. The majority of the students considered that the minority of the exercises helped them in this sense. Teachers should apply their creativeness to elaborate some exercises that fit the necessity of the students in order to strengthen the value responsibility.

In relation to the Interview applied to the teachers of English (Annex 5), it is important to clear up that they have solid knowledge about the formation of values, among them responsibility, and also they know the importance of strengthening this value in the students. Nevertheless, there exist some problems in the activities they plan due to the fact that they sometimes do not develop the necessary work to develop the value of responsibility through those activities.

It is the authoresses´ opinion that the teachers of English should take advantage of the possibilities the content of the activities offer, to contribute to strengthen the value responsibility, making a correct use of the different Programs of the Revolution for example: the televisions, computers, encyclopedias, among others. Besides, they should look for methods and ways to plan lessons and exercises, taking into consideration the individual differences of the students. In this way, the interest towards the development of the exercises on the students´ part can be guaranteed as well as other activities planned by the teacher.

There were observed 15 lessons with the aim of, among other things, detecting the treatment or not of the value responsibility through the English lessons. (Annexes 8 and 10). The results showed the teachers made emphasis on values like: patriotism, honesty and solidarity; responsibility was absent in all the cases, even when there were possibilities for referring to it according to the contents. The students, on the other hand behave improperly, manifesting a high degree of irresponsibility; for example: some of them arrived late and did not give the teacher an excuse, some others did not do the homework (in many cases they said that they had forgotten it); some others showed a remarkable lack of interest in the lesson and committed indiscipline.

Only in a minority of lessons observed teachers motivate and explain the exercises in an adequate way, having as result that the students feel more interested and compromised with what they have to do and in this way they assume the development of the activities with more responsibility.

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  Teaching activities to strengthen the value responsibility in first year students of the Accountant specialty in the Professional Technical Education

Responsibility forms part of the freedom. A person is mainly defined for the responsibility towards any activity. That is why, knowing the importance this value has and the insufficiencies detected to develop it, the authoresses have elaborated a set of activities directed to strengthen the level of responsibility through the English lessons in first year students of the Accountant specialty in the Professional Technical Education.

It is important to answer the following question:

What is teaching activity?

• "The student"s cognitive activity directed by means of the teaching process of the school is teaching activity. It has a content previously determined in the curriculum and programs…" (12)

Once the authoresses have observed and analyzed the reality of the problem of this investigation, and keeping in mind the necessity of a better work of the teacher, it is indispensable to make the following teaching activities to strengthen the value responsibility in the students.

TEACHING ACTIVITY # 1

Linguistic game

Title: Playing with questions.

Objective: Answer some questions.

Content: Different contents of the program.

Skills: Speaking.

Means: Cards.

Pedagogical organization: The group will be divided into two teams. It will be assigned a letter to each of them (A and B). The teacher will have in the table the cards (each of them has a question to ask or an action that should be performed). The punctuation, the team A will obtain, has been annotated by a student of the team B and the in other way around. On the other hand, a student of the team A will choose a card that will answer. To each correct answer each team will win 5 points. If they gives a wrong answer the question will be passed to the other team, and the first one will loose 5 points. At the end, the team that has more points will win.

Cards

1- What is your name?

2- Ask one of your classmates what he / she does in the evenings.

3- Do you come to school early every day?

4- Who wrote "The Old man and the sea"?

5- What do you usually do on weekends?

6- Do you help your partners?

7- What is your address?

8- Where are you from?

9- Ask one of your classmates what his / her father"s job is.

10- Describe your mother in two sentences.

11- Introduce a classmate to your teacher.

12- What do you do on Monday?

13- What is your father like?

14- What is your phone number?

15- What do you never do on weekends?

16- What do you look like?

17- How old are you?

18- Choose a classmate and greet him / her in a formal way.

19- Write two sentences that express an action that occur at the moment of speaking.

20- Who was the writer of "The Golden age"?

21- Describe your house.

22- Write the plural form of these words: child, woman, change, party.

23- Why it is important to keep a steady relationship?

24- Do you do your homework every day?

25- Ask another student where he / she lives.

26- Write the past tense of the following verbs: play, see, think, cut, work, study.

27- Which are the names of the Five Heroes?

28- What happened on January 1st, 1959?

29- Who wrote "Romeo and Juliet?

Remarks: The teacher can propitiate a small debate with questions such as:

– Why it is important to keep a steady relationship?

– Do you come to school early every day?

– Do you do your homework every day?

He should make the students analyze these questions to point out the moral value they show and the students should be aware of the importance of having a steady relationship with their couple: that is a way of showing a responsible behavior.

• TEACHING ACTIVITY # 2

Linguistic game

Title: What is the right time?

Objective: Identify the correct hour and say what they do at this specific moment.

Content: Simple present Tense.

Skills: Speaking.

Means: Cards.

Pedagogical organization: The group is divided into teams of six or more students. It will be assigned a name to each of them. The teacher will have on the desk the cards (each of them will have an hour written on it) (Annex 11). It will be chosen a student of each team and the teacher will give him a card. The student should say the right hour and what he / she do at that time. To each correct answer the team will win 10 points and the in other way around. In this way, it will be developed the activity with the other teams and cards. At the end, the team which has more points will win.

Remarks: It is important to let the students generate a debate in which they can, for example, compare themselves with other partners. The teacher should ask the students what they do in a specific time and in this way the students can deduced if they are responsible persons or not.

• TEACHING ACTIVITY # 3

Linguistic game

Title: Hidden animal.

Objective: Identify the animal described.

Content: Simple Present Tense.

Skills: Reading and writing.

Means: Cards.

Pedagogical organization: The group will be divided into three teams. The teacher will give to each of them four cards (which have a drawn animal) (Annex 12). The teams must not let the others to see their cards. Each group must say what they know about the animal of the card. They can copy, what they are going to say in their notebooks. If they have doubts the teacher can suggest some verbs they can use such as: live, eat, sleep, make, grow, die, give. While they are working the teacher will go to their seats to clarify doubts and to check the development of the activity. When the teams have finished a student will read the things they wrote about the animal and the others will say the name. In this way, it will be develop the activity with the rest of the cards. At the end, the team that was able to identify more quickly the animals will win. Then, the students will exchange the notebooks with their classmates to check the mistakes and give punctuation in the scale from one to five points.

Variation: As homework the students will search more about the animal. They can use the Reference Library Encarta.

Remarks: The students have the responsibility of going to the computer lab and search about the animal they had. Also, they should assume a responsible and honest attitude when they have to check the notebooks of his / her partner and grant the punctuation that corresponds.

• TEACHING ACTIVITY # 4

Linguistic game

Title: Finding sentences.

Objective: Find sentences in the chart.

Content: Simple Present Tense.

Skills: Reading.

Means: Cardboard.

Pedagogical organization: The group is divided into two teams. The teacher will take the chart (Annex 13) in a cardboard. It will be explained to the students that they have to find as many sentences as they can in the chart, taking into consideration that the subject of each sentence is enumerated. The teacher will select a student of each team and will divide the board into two parts. At the same time both students will copy the sentences found. At the end, the team that had found more sentences will win.

Sentences

1- Ann is a responsible person.

2- We usually play tennis on Saturday.

3- I like to do my homework every night.

4- They are always late.

5- He asks for permission when he needs to go out.

6- The capital of Indonesia is Jakarta.

7- She helps her classmates.

8- Anthony does not like to work.

9- Ann usually plays tennis on Saturday.

10- I usually play tennis on Saturday.

11- We usually play tennis on Saturday.

12- They are always late.

13- She needs to go out.

Remarks: The teacher must favor the critic reflection taking into consideration the moral value of the sentence. For example: he can ask the students if they always request for permission to make something or when they need something or if they are responsible persons like Ann and which are the things they do that make them being responsible.

• TEACHING ACTIVITY # 5

Title: Let"s make a dialogue.

Objective: Develop a dialogue from a given situation.

Content: Different contents of the program.

Skills: Speaking.

Means: Cards.

Pedagogical organization: The classroom will be divided into teams of three students. The teacher will give them a card which contains a situation that they should dramatize through a small dialogue. They will have 15 minutes to prepare it. Also, they can write the dialogue in their notebooks, but they can not read it at the time of dramatizing it in front of the classroom. The students should be as creative as possible. Once the students finish the preparation of the dialogues they will dramatized it in front of the class.

• Situation 1

Student A

Imagine you are going to the movie with your boyfriend / girlfriend and you meet a friend. Greet Student C. Ask him / her how is he / she. Then introduce your boyfriend / girlfriend to Student C. Ask him / her about what he / she is doing. Ask Student C about his / her family, where he / she is living now. At the end, say good-bye.

Student B

Imagine your boyfriend / girlfriend is taking you to the movie and he / she meets a friend. Be polite. Tell Student C you are working in the same entity but as a secretary. Offer Student C your help in everything he / she needs at work. When Student C had left you realize that his / her wallet had felt. Call Student C and give the wallet back.

Student C

Imagine you are walking on a Saturday night and you meet a friend and his / her boyfriend / girlfriend. Greet them. Say how you are to Student A and tell him / her that you are working in the bank. Then, explain Student B you began to work there just a week ago. Tell them you have to go. A few minutes later, thank Students B for giving you your wallet back. Say good-bye.

• Situation 2

Student A

Imagine you have a classmate that arrives late at school every day, that does not respect the teachers and he / she has other bad behaviors. You and a friend (Student C) decided to talk to Student B about the things he / she is doing wrong. Ask Student B why he / she arrives late at school. Then, tell him / her you are going to pick him / her up every day for going to school. Also, invite him / her to your house to study or to do the homework.

Student B

Imagine you are a bad student and you do many things that are wrong at school. Tell student A you arrive late at school because you are too lazy. Accept Student A"s invitation. Then, explain to Student C that you feel you are not part of the group, so you try to call the attention of all the teachers and students. Answer the questions Student C will ask you. Then, tell Student A and C that with their help you will change.

Student C

Imagine you have a classmate that among other bad things he / she does not pay attention to what the teacher is doing. You and your friend (Student A) decided to talk with Student B. Listen to what Student A is talking to Student B. Then, give your opinion and ask another thing you want to know about Student B. Give Student B a piece of advice. Show, with real examples, that he / she is part of the group. Tell Student B that he / she has to change his / her behavior.

• Situation 3

Student A

Imagine you are sitting in the park reading a newspaper and someone you do not know asks you where the railway station is. Give Student B the address. Specify how far it is. Describe the railway station. Give the right hour the train will get out the station. Then, tell Student B the restaurant you consider the best for eating.

Student B

Imagine you are new in town and you need to take a train. You find a person in the park, ask for permission. Ask Student A where the railway station is. Ask Student A to describe it and the exact time the train will get out the station. As you have enough time and you are hungry, ask Student A if he / she could recommend you a place to eat. Say thank you to Student A for all his /her help. Once in the restaurant, call the waiter / waitress (Student C). Ask for the menu. Look at it and decide what you want. Then, give your order. Say if you want anything else. Ask for anything else you may need.

Student C

Imagine you are a waiter / waitress in a restaurant and Student B calls you and ask you for the menu. A few minutes later, ask to the costumer if he / she is ready to order. Take the order. Ask if Student B wants anything else. After you serve the food, ask the costumer if everything is O.K.

• Situation 4

Student A

You are studying accounting and you have a Mathematic test. Invite Student B to study in your house. Give Student B the exact days you are going to study and give him / her your address. Later on, you decide to invite Student C to study too. Call Student C and ask him / her about your idea. Tell Student C the days you are going to study. Once in your house, Student B arrives late. Ask him / her the reasons. Explain to Student B why he / she should not be late for studying. Introduce Student C to Student B.

Student B

You are studying accounting and you have a Mathematic test. Thank to Student A for inviting you to study. Ask him / her the address and the time you should go to Student A house. Once at Student A´s house, apologize for being late and explain why you did not get on time. Greet Student C.

Student C

You are a friend of Student A and he / she calls you. Greet Student A. Accept his / her invitation. Thank Student A for it. Then, go to Student A´s house. Greet Student B. Tell both of them you enjoy studying with them. Say good-bye.

Remarks: It is important to take into account the information given in the situations and the messages they transmit to debate the desire value. In this case, the teacher can ask the students:

– In situation 2 do you consider Student A´s attitude responsible or not? Why?

– How would you value the attitude assumed by Student B in the situation 1?

The teacher must emphasize the message involved in each role-play for strengthening the value responsibility.

TEACHING ACTIVITY # 6

Linguistic game

Title: Who are they?

Objective: Identify the personality.

Content: Simple Present Tense.

Skills: Reading and writing.

Means: Cards.

Pedagogical organization: The group is divided into three teams. It will be assigned a name to each of them. The teacher will give them four cards (each of them has a picture of a personality the students have studied in lessons such as: History) (Annex 14). The students will have 10 minutes to write the things that characterize the personality, the things they know about him / her (when was he / she born, the things he / she made), but they can not let the other teams to see the content of its cards. When they have finished, the teacher will select a student of each team to say what they wrote about the personality. The other teams must identify of whom the team is talking about. In this way, the activity will be developed until the students identify all the cards. To each personality identified the team will win 5 points. At the end the team with bigger punctuation will win.

Variation: As homework the students will search about the personality using the Educative Software "A better world is possible" and the Reference Library Encarta.

Remarks: Once the teams had identified all the persons, the teacher can choose a personality and ask the students, for example:

– Was Camilo Cienfuegos a brave man?

– How do you think he was responsible or not?

– If he had been an irresponsible person you consider their partners and friends had followed him in everything he did? Why?

– Would you like to be like him?

TEACHING ACTIVITY # 7

Linguistic game

Title: Studying and Playing.

Objective: Apply several contents studied in different units.

Content: Different contents of the program.

Skills: Reading, writing and speaking.

Means: Cardboard and cards.

Pedagogical organization: The group is divided into two teams. It is needed a die and a chip for each of them. The teacher should take the game painted in a big cardboard (Annex 15). The game begins by throwing the die and the team that achieves more points begins. The teacher will select (every time the die has been thrown) a different student to advance the chip. In some stalls there are questions that should be answered by the student who throw the die. Also, there are stalls that have written Free Question, on it the contrary team must make a question to the team that had fell here. To each image drawn in some stalls corresponds three cards (Annex 16) which has questions. When a team falls on it must choose a card and will answer it. To each wrong answer the team will back away a stall and to each the team will stay in the stall. At the end, the team that gets to the goal will win.

• Card 1

• What did you do in your last vacation?

• What would you like to do on weekends?

• What is your favorite sport?

• Card 2

• Greet on of your classmates in an informal way.

• Do you watch the "Round Table"? Why?

• Introduce one friend to another.

• Card 3

• Do you help your classmates? Provide two examples.

• What did you do yesterday night?

• Ask another classmate if he / she like to study every day.

Card 4

• What is your favorite actor or actress?

• Say what we commemorate on May 19th, 1895.

• Write an adjective beginning with R.

Card 5

• Which are the things our country is doing to avoid the use of drugs?

• Mention three consequences of smoking.

• Why it is important to keep a steady relationship?

Card 6

• Make a sentence with each word: bank, own, client, count.

• Write a sentence that expresses an action that already occurred.

• When were your school"s martyr born?

Card 7

• At what time do you come to school?

• Do you come to school early every day?

• Write the sentences the teacher will read.

Sentences: She is an accountant. They help each others.

Card 8

• What is happening with children all over the world?

• What happened on November 27th, 1871?

• What do you think about the things our doctors are doing in some countries such as: Venezuela, Haiti, and Colombia?

Card 9

• Mention three books that the program "La Editorial Libertad" has.

• Do you think it is important to read? Why?

• Who was the writer of the book "Pusimos la bomba… ¿Y qué?"

Card 10

• What is your favorite subject? Why?

• Do you think it is important to be an accountant?

• What do you do at school every day?

Remarks: The teacher should encourage the students to analyze the message each sentences contain so as to foster the desire value. Also, in the development of the game there are some responsibilities the students should fulfill, for example: read the date, organize the classroom. The teacher can develop a debate by means of the analysis of some questions of the cards such as:

– What do you do at school every day?

– What do you think about the things our doctors are doing in some countries such as: Venezuela, Haiti, and Bolivia?

– Do you help your classmates? Provide two examples.

– Do you think it is important to read? Why?

Remarks: This Booklet contribute to strengthen the value responsibility in the students because just the fact to give it a correct use, to take care of it and to solve the exercises permit the students being more responsible

These teaching activities were elaborated to develop them in drilling lessons. Although, they are directed to strengthen the value responsibility also reinforced other values. They can be adapted and applied in different units of the English program taking into consideration the contents of each activity.

All the exercises that are developed in the English lessons allow the strengthening of values. By means of the development of them there are responsibilities the students should fulfill, for example: look the meaning of some words on the dictionary, assume roles.

Learn should be something pleasant and the use of didactic games, teaching means are very important in the assimilation and development of some skills in the students.

The teaching activities proposed are, in their great majority, "linguistic games: activities that in a pleasant way and with a competitive fraternally spirit, achieved different objectives of oral expression, taking into consideration the operation they demand from the student" (11) because the students must work in teams, groups and it is very important to emphasize that the work in group has a great meaning for the adolescents, because their partners opinions play a regulator papel of great importance. Also, these games allow the students to be more related with its partners and in this way they will be more integrated, join to the group.

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  Validation of the teaching activities proposed with the objective of strengthening the value responsibility in first year students of the Accountant specialty

As a part of an investigation there were applied some instruments such as: interview, inquiry and observation with the main purpose to verify how responsible the students were in front of the activities assigned and those they should carry out. (Annexes 1, 3, 5, 7and 9).

In correspondence with the results obtained the difficulties showed in the Real Situation of the problem can be appreciated. These difficulties can be summarized as follows: the students, with frequency, do not assume with responsibility what it is assigned and the things they have to do. The teachers of English have a great knowledge in regard to the importance the formation of values has, but they must increase the activities guided to strengthen the value responsibility in the students.

After having this information, it was developed a carefully work with first year teachers of English with the purpose of explaining to them the objective of the teaching activities and the way of proceed in each of the cases.

Through the development of this investigation, the authoresses have gathered some information that could be collected at the time of applying the proposal, such as: the students` reaction while making any of the activities, their acceptance, their participation during the development of the teaching activities; the ones they considered more important, more interesting, the activities they liked the most, the ones they developed the best and the teachers` opinions.

For the application of the activities 50 students of first year of the Accountant specialty at "Asdrùbal Lòpez Vàzquez" Politechnical Institute were selected, representing a 23, 8% of the total students registered, that are 210 students. These students were divided into two groups (Group 1 and Group 2).

The authoresses of this research have applied inquires, interviews to the students and to the teachers of English and some observations of lessons with the main objective of knowing the opinions and considerations the they had concerning the proposal and the level of effectiveness it had.

Taking into account the results obtained from the Inquiry to students (Annex 23) it can be said that the proposal applied by the authoresses help them to reinforce their moral values in a higher degree. Also, it could be appreciated that a 70 % of them considered that the activities were interesting and a 66 % that they were important. The activities the students liked were number 7. A 76 % of the students had as opinion that the teaching activities allowed them to be more responsible. A 42 % had difficulties at the time of dramatizing a situation in front of their classmates. In general, the students considered that the teaching activities applied allowed them not only to strengthen the value responsibility, but also to wide their cultural level and they could express themselves using their own words. All this demonstrate the independence the students developed through the activities.

It was applied an Interview (Annex 19) and an Inquiry (Annex 25) to the teachers of English. They agreed in that the activities are of great help and very important for the students, that they are well structured and they not only contribute to strengthen the value responsibility, but other values such as: solidarity and honesty. Also, the teachers considered that the students reacted in a positive way and they kept motivated and interested during the development of the activities.

With the observation of lessons (Annex 21) the authoresses could appreciated that the students were motivated and interested on what they have to do. The teaching activities were highly accepted by the majority of them. During the development of the lessons the students were eager to participate; disregarding their limitations in the use of the language they tried to solve the activities.

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  Conclusions

• The formation of values has a great significance within the ideopolitical education. The historical continuity of the revolutionary process in the new generations depends on this formation. Also, it constitutes a fundamental objective to develop of the Cuban Educational System.

• In this work are offered some theoretical aspects that allow the teachers to acquire a greater knowledge of the theme, to understand the importance the formation of values has in the Teaching Learning Process and the fundamental role the play.

• Through out the development of this investigation, it was confirmed that the teachers of English at "Asdrúbal López Vázquez" Politechnical Institute have to increase the activities to foster the moral value of responsibility in the students.

• To fulfill with the objective there were elaborated some teaching activities that contribute to strengthen the value responsibility in first year students of the Accountant specialty. They can be adapted and applied in different Units, in different specialities, taking into consideration the particularities each of them have.

• The high level of acceptance by the teachers of English and first year students and the results obtained, allowed to corroborate the effectiveness of the teaching activities proposed and their contribution to foster the moral value of responsibility and some others.

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  Recommendations

• Continue working in this theme and increase the activities with the objective of strengthening the value responsibility in first year students in the Professional Technical Education.

• Carry out methodological activities in the English Department in the school to increase the teachers" preparation and guarantee the best treatment and strengthen of the value responsibility in the students.

• Use this work as a bibliographical source for being consulted for the teachers to understand what the formation of values is, and specially the responsibility, and the knowledgement of a way to strengthen it in the students.

• Make extensive this work to other Politechnical Institutes and to other majors to contribute to strengthen the value responsibility.

• 
  

  Bibliographycal references

1- VALDÉS GALÁRRAGA, RAMIRO. Diccionario de Pensamientos Martianos. — La Habana : Ed. Ciencias Sociales, 2002. — p. 606.

2- ALVAREZ DE ZAYAS, CARLOS M. La escuela en la vida. Didáctica. — La Habana : Ed. Pueblo y Educación, 1999. — p. 73.

3- SCHOLZ. Función educativa de la clase y formación de valores. Conferencia en el Instituto Central de Ciencias Pedagógicas. — Ciudad de la Habana, 1987. (Inédita)

4- MONDADORI GRIJALBO. Gran diccionario Enciclopédico Ilustrado. — primera reimpresión. — Barcelona. — p. 1701.

5- GARCÍA BATISTA, GILBERTO. Compendio de pedagogía. — primera reimpresión. — Ciudad de la Habana : Ed. Pueblo y Educación, 2003. — p. 199.

6- Ibidem.

7- MONDADORI GRIJALBO. Gran diccionario Enciclopédico Ilustrado. — primera reimpresión. — Barcelona. — p. 1452.

8- COMPACT OCEÁNO. Diccionario de sinónimos y antónimos. — España. — p. 830.

9- www.construyepais.cl

10- wwwup.edu.pe/peruprograma/responsa.htm

11- ANTICH DE LEÓN, ROSA. Metodología de la Enseñanza de Lenguas Extranjeras. — segunda reimpresión. — La Habana : Ed. Pueblo y Educación, 1986. — p. 144.

12- COLECTIVO DE AUTORES. Pedagogía. — segunda reimpresión. — La Habana : Ed. Pueblo y Educación, 1989. — p. 200.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1- ALBAREZ PÉREZ, MARTA. Interdisciplinariedad. Una aproximación desde la enseñanza aprendizaje de las ciencias. — Ciudad de la Habana : Ed. Pueblo y Educación, 2004. — 379 p.

2- ALVAREZ DE ZAYAS, CARLOS M. La escuela en la vida. Didáctica. — tercera edición corregida y aumentada. — La Habana : Ed. Pueblo y Educación, 1999. — 178 p.

3- ANTICH DE LEÓN, ROSA. Metodología de la Enseñanza de Lenguas Extranjeras. — segunda reimpresión. — La Habana : Ed. Pueblo y Educación, 1986. — 460 p.

4- ARNOLDOV, A. El hombre y los valores espirituales en el Socialismo. — Moscú : Ed. Progreso, 1981. — 163 p.

5- BAXTER PÉREZ, ESTHER. La formación de valores. una tarea pedagógica. — La Habana : Ed. Pueblo y Educación, 1989. — 40 p.

6- BIBLIOTECA DE CONSULTA MICROSOFT ENCARTA. — 2004.

7- CASTRO RUZ, FIDEL. El estudio, el trabajo y la formación de la juventud. — La Habana : Ed. Oficina de Publicaciones del Consejo de Estado, 1986. — 98 p.

8- COLECTIVO DE AUTORES. Metodología de la investigación educacional. — primera reimpresión. — La Habana : Ed. Pueblo y Educación, 2001. — 192p.

9- COLECTIVO DE AUTORES. Orientaciones metodológicas para el desarrollo del programa dirigido a la formación de valores, la disciplina y la responsabilidad ciudadana en la escuela. Educación Técnica Profesional. MINED. Resolución ministerial 90 / 98. — 22 p.

10- ECKERSLY MA, CE. Comprehensive English Grammar. — tercera edición. — La Habana : Ed. pueblo y Educación, 1975. — 440 p.

11- EASTWOOD, JOHN. Oxford practice grammar. With answers. — Hong Kong. Oxford university Press, 1992. — 334 p.

12- COLECTIVO DE AUTORES. Tómbola. communication activities for Teenagers. — China : Ed. Longman, 1997. — 96 p.

13- CHACÓN ARTEAGA, NANCY. Formación de valores morales. — primera reimpresión. — La Habana, 1998. — 53 p.

14- FABELO, JOSÉ RAMÓN. La formación de valores en las nuevas generaciones: "Una campaña de espiritualidad y conciencia". — La Habana : Ed. Ciencias sociales, 1996. — 72 p.

15- GARCÍA BATISTA, GILBERTO. Compendio de pedagogía. — primera reimpresión. — Ciudad de la Habana : Ed. Pueblo y educación, 2003. — 354 p.

16- GONZÁLEZ MAURA, VIVIANA. Psicología para educadores. — La Habana : Ed. Pueblo y Educación, 1995. — 291 p.

17- LECHELT, DOREEN. Telling the world 1. — Toronto : Ed. Pueblo y Educación, 1995. — 291 p.

18- MORALES CALVO, ANTONIO. Searching 1. Student´s book. — primera edición. — La Habana : Ed. Pueblo y Educación, 1990. — 276 p.

19- PÉREZ MARTÍN, LORENZO. La personalidad: diagnóstico y desarrollo. — La Habana : Ed. Pueblo y Educación, 2004. — 255 p.

20- UR, PENNY. Five minutes activities: a resource book of short activities. — Inglaterra : Ed. University of Cambridge, 1996. — 103 p.

21- WATCYN JONES, PETER. Top class activities. 50 short games and activities for teachers. — Inglaterra : Ed. Penguin Books, 1997. — 96 p.

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  Annex

ANNEX 1

Initial Diagnosis to the students.

Objective: Check the level of responsibility the students have.

Answer with honesty the following questions:

• You are playing in the computer of the school laboratory. Suddenly, you remember that you have a homework to do and you do not have enough time to do it. What would you do?

• ____ You would you copy the homework from your partner"s notebook and you will say you do it by yourself.

• ____ You would give an excuse to the teacher, for example: that you were sick or that you had to make an errand to your dad.

• ____ You would ask the teacher if you can give your homework a little later.

• If you go to the supermarket to buy some things and the clerk gives you $5.00 of change when he / she should give you only $3.00. What would you do?

• ____ You would tell him / her there is a mistake.

• ____ You would not say anything and you would keep with the money.

• ____ You would wait to arrive at home to decide what to do about it.

• Have you ever gotten off the bus without paying?

YES ______ NO_______

• If you find a wallet on the street. What would you do?

• ____ You would stay with it.

• ____ You would look for the owner.

• If your teacher tells you that you have to help in the confection of the bulletin board of the classroom. What would you do?

• ____ You would accept with pleasure.

• ____ You would say that you are not responsible of that in the classroom and you won"t make anything.

• You are carrying out a test and you do not know the answer of the third question. What would you do?

• ____ You would copy the answer from your partner.

• ____ You would give the test back to the teacher and you would study to do everything well next time.

ANNEX 2

Results obtained from the Initial Diagnosis the students.

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

Question 5

Question 6

ANNEX 3

Inquiry the students.

Objective: Know the level of knowledge the students have about some aspects related with the formation of values in the English lessons.

As part of an investigation we need you to answer the following questions. We appreciate your sincere answers, to help us perfection the Teaching Learning Process.

Match with an (X) the answer you consider the best.

• 1) Does your teacher contribute to the shaping of values through the English lessons?

YES ______ NO ______

• 2) How often does he / she contribute to the shaping of values through their lessons?.

ALWAYS_____ SOMETIMES_____ NEVER______

• 3) Which moral values do your teachers foster through the lessons more frequently?

• 4) Do you consider that the English exercises contribute to strengthen your way of acting in front of different situations?

ALL OF THEM_____ THE MINORITY______

THE MAJORITY_____ NONE OF THEM_____

ANNEX 4

Results obtained from the Inquiry to the students.

Question 1

Question 2

Question 3

Question 4

ANNEX 5

Interview to the teachers of English.

Objective: Verify the level of knowledge the teachers have about some aspects related with the formation of values.

We are developing a research and it is needed your cooperation.

1) How long have you been working in the Professional Technical Education?

2) What is the general objective of the English subject at this type of school?

3) What is the formation of values?

4) Do you consider that the activities carried out by the teachers of English contribute to strengthen the value responsibility in the students?

YES _______ SOMETIMES________ NO ________

ANNEX 6

Results obtained from the interview to the teachers of English.

Question 1

Question 2

Objective

• Increase and develop the scientific conception of the world.

• Use the English language efficiently as a mean of communication.

• Contribute to the multifarious and harmonic formation of the man.

Question 3

• It is the integral formation of the man.

• Prepare the man for the life with positive and worthy qualities.

• It is the formation of a new man on the bases of the different values that each individual should have.

Question 4

ANNEX 7

Guide for the observation of lessons.

Objective: Observe the behavior assumed by the students during the development of the lessons.

1) Attendance and punctuality.

2) Motivation toward the activities.

3) Students" participation.

4) Moral value the teacher deals with while delivering the lesson.

ANNEX 8

Results obtained from the observation of lessons.

ANNEX 9

Guide for the observation of lessons.

Objective: Observe how teachers contribute to strengthen the value responsibility in the students through the English lessons.

1) Type of lesson.

2) Objective of the lesson.

3) Fulfillment of the objective.

– Development of the Methodological steps.

– Students" participation.

4) Activities developed with the objective of strengthening the value responsibility through the content of the lessons.

ANNEX 10

Results obtained from the observation of lessons.

1

2

3

4

In none of the four lessons visited, there was observed the presence of activities that contribute to strengthen the value responsibility.

ANEXO 11

ANNEX 12

ANNEX 13

ANNEX 14

• ANNEX 15

ANNEX 16

ANNEX 17

IDEAS BÁSICAS PARA LAS TRANSFORMACIONES EN LA EDUCACIÓN MEDIA SUPERIOR.

• Conformar los grupos docentes con no más de 30 estudiantes.

• Elevar el papel del profesor guía profesionalizado que imparte clases solo en su grupo y responde por la educación general del mismo, integrando coherentemente el accionar del colectivo del grupo, la familia y la comunidad.

• Aplicar el concepto del profesor por el área del conocimiento reduciendo significativamente el número de profesores que inciden en un grupo docente.

• La utilización de video clases en las asignaturas de Matemática, Español, Historia, Física, Inglés y Biología, teleclases en las asignaturas de Geografía, Química y Cultura Política, así como video conferencias especializadas en el caso de la formación profesional.

• Empleo de Software Educativo que constituyan apoyo en la docencia y propicien la cultura general de los jóvenes.

• Adoptar una organización escolar que propicie la utilización eficiente de las nuevas tecnologías y la influencia de los factores que inciden sobre el alumno.

• Modificar las concepciones y formas de evaluación del proceso educativo y sus resultados, aplicando una propuesta de sistema de evaluación que permita diagnosticar las potencialidades y errores de los alumnos, así como la regulación y control de su aprendizaje y el desarrollo de todo el proceso educativo general.

Partes: 1, 2, 3