Agresibitatea psikomotrizitateko gelan, Alvaro Beñaranen ikuspuntutik

Aste honetan bi arratsaldetan hitzaldi oso interesgarriak izan ditugu unibertsitatean. Alde batetik, Francesco Tonucci-k Eskola Txikietako partaideekin jardunaldi batzuk izan ditu, eta haren hitzaldiak entzun ahal izan ditugu gela batean jarritako bideoaren bitartez eta, bestetik, Alvaro Beñaran psikomotrizista etorri zaigu agresibitatearen inguruan hitz egitera.

Tonucci-k aurreko urteko maitzean Kursaalean izan ziren jardunaldi batzuetan azalduakoaren inguruan hitz egin zuen, eta blogean jada hark azaldutako ideia nagusiak bilduta ditudanez, ez naiz horretan gehiago arituko.

Psikomotrizitateko gelan agresibitatearen inguruan hitz egitean, Alvaro Beñaran bi ideietatik abiatu zen: batetik, garrantzitsua da agresioari agresiorik gabe erantzutea, hau da, agresioaren espirala etetea eta, bestetik, psikomotrizitateko gelan agresioa maiztasunez burutzen duen haurra ez da ekintza horiek soilik egiten dituen pertsona bezala ikusi behar, hau da, askoz ere gehiago da haur hori bere agresioak baino.

Psikomotrizitateko praktikaren ikuspuntutik, agresioa sintoma litzateke, eta psikomotrizistaren zeregina ez da sintoma hori desagertaraztea, baizik eta sintoma horren atzetik dauden gaiei irtenbidea aurkitzen laguntzea. Zer du haurrak horrela jotzeko? Zer gertatzen zaio? Zein egoeretan sortzen da agresioa? tankera horretako galderak egin behar dizkio bere buruari. Horrez gain, psikomotrizistak haurra bere osotasunean behatu behar du, psikomotrizitateko saioan zehar zein egoera, espazio eta momentutan ongi sentitzen den aztertzeko. Haurrari erantzun sakona eman nahi bazaio, benetan lagundu nahi bazaio, agresioa gertatzen direneko momentuak ez dira egokienak esku-hartzetko, haurrak ez baita harkor egongo, ezta psikomotrizista ere. Agresiorik ez dagoen momentuetan lan egin behar da emaitzak lortzeko. Baina hori zaila da, presio handia baitago jotzea amaitu dadin, agresioa desager dadin (eskolatik, beste haurren gurasoen aldetik eta abar). Hala ere, psikomotrizistak helburu bezala haurra laguntzea ezarri behar dio bere buruari, eta ez haurrak jo ez dezan nola edo hala lortzea. Bigarrena lehenengoaren ondorio izango da, dudarik gabe, baina ez da helburu bat bere horretan. Honek guztiak gogoeta sakona sustatu beharko luke psikomotrizistarengan: "zein da nire benetako motibazioa, haurra laguntzea, ala irakasle bezala arazoa gainetik kentzea?".

Psikomotrizitateko saioak aukera ezinhobeak eskaintzen ditu haurrekin konfiantzazko harremanak sendotzeko, eta agresiora maiz jotzen duen haurra laguntzeko haurra gustura sentitzen den momentu horietaz baliatuko da psikomotrista haurrarekin harremana lantzeko.

Bestetik, ezin dugu ahaztu etimologikoki agresioa harremanari lotua dagoela, eta horrelaxe ikusten da praktika psikomotorraren aldetik. Agresioak, hortaz, harreman nahia adierazten du; desegokia den modu batean adierazitakoa.

Horrez gain, agresioa burutu duen haurraren emozioek gugan emozioak eragiten dituzte ere, agresibitatearen inguruan gure bizitzan zehar izan dugun historia pertsonalaren araberakoak izango direnak. Horregatik da hain garrantzitsua psikomotrizistak lan pertsonala egitea, emozio horiek identifikatu eta ulertzeko, hori egin ezean oso erraza izango baita haurraren agresioari ia beti desegokia izango den modu automatikoan erantzutea. Hona iritsita, afektuak, emozioak eta sentimenduak desberdintzea komeniko zaigu:

• Afektuak: Acouturier-en arabera, jaiotzetik esperientzia atsegin eta desatseginen ondorioz sortutakoak. Hortaz, afektuak plazerezkoak edo displazerezkoak izango dira.
• Emozioak: unibertsalak direnak (beldurra, amorrua, poza eta tristura dira nagusiak). Afektuekin konbinatzean, intentsitate diferenteak dituzte.
• Sentimenduak: emozioei hitza jartzean sortuak.

Psikomotrizistak haurraren agresioaren aurrean sentitzea naturala da, baina lortu behar du gai izatea haurrari bere emozio edo sentimendua bueltatu aurretik iragaztea eta haurrari hark behar duena ematea, ez psikomotrizistak gogoz kanporatuko lukeen hura ematea.

Psikomotrizitateko saioa berez agresibitatea kanalizatzeko diseinatua dago, hau da, aukera apartak eskaintzen ditu agresibitatea modu positiboan lantzeko eta kanporatzeko. Izan ere, Winnicott-en aburuz, agresibitatea biziaren energia da, ongi kanalizatzean sormena sortzen duena, eta erreprimitzen bada agresioa dakarrena. Beraz, agresibitatea positiboa den zerbait da, eta psikomotrizitateko saioak balio behar du haurrak horretaz ohartarazteko. Adibidez, psikomotrizitateko saioaren abiapuntu bezala horma botatzen denean haurrari adierazten zaio agresibitatea edo indarra positiboa dela, inori minik eragiten ez bazaio, jolasaren baitan adierazia bada. Benetako jolasa dagoenean inoiz ez dago agresiorik, eta psikomotrizitateko saio osoan zehar sinbolikoki norberarengan, besteengan eta materialengan eragiten da agresibitatea adieraziz, eta hori egiten duen bitartean haurrak helduarengandik jasotako mezuak dio ongi dagoela agresibitate hori azaleratzea.

Haurra bere nortasunaz seguru dagoenean ez du jotzen; agresioak segurtasun-eza adierazten digu, haurrak bere mundua kolokan ikusten duela nolabait.

Psikomotrizistak bide asko ditu haurrarekin komunikazioa sustatzeko: materiala, begirada, hitza. Saiatu egin beharko du biderik egokiena aurkitzen, haurrak onartuko duen komunikazioa ezartzeko. Hala ere, psikomotrizitateko saioan gogoan izan behar dugu garrantzitsuena gelako dinamika orokorra dela, taldeko giroa lantzea, hura ez baita terapiako saioa, talde guztiaren psikomotrizitzateko saioa baizik.

Jolas sinbolikoan ere agresibitatea lantzen da. Adibidez, agresibitatea modu egokian kanalizatzen duten haurrekin oso egokia izan daiteke makil gogorrak erabiltzea, sinbolizatzera behartzeko material ezinhobea delako, laguna ukitu bezain pronto min emango zaiolako. Agresibitatea sinbolikoki kanporatzen da horrelako jolasen bitartez. Agresioa burutzen duten haurrek normalean ezin dute haien buruan emozioa irudi bihurtu, ezin dute materialekin eraiki buruan irudikatzen duten hori, eta horretan lagundu behar zaie.

Psikomotrizitateko saioko beste atal batzuk ere laguntzen dute agresibitatea lantzen. Adibidez, ipuinean haurrek bizitzan sentitutakoa islatuta ikusiko dute, beste ikuspegi batetik, haien burutik at, eta marrazkiek ere lagunduko diete agresibitate hori kanporatzen.

Orain arte esandako guztiak agresiorik ez dagoen momentuetarako balio du, baina agresioa gertatzen denean, nola jokatu? Beti ere, agresioa maiz burutzen duen haurraz ari gara hemen. Lehendabizi, biktimarengana joango gara, hura kontsolatu eta lasaitzera, bera baita agresioa pairatu duena. Horrek, aldi berean, denbora emango digu hurrengo urratsean agresioa burutu duenari gerturatzeko. Horrela, ez diogu agresioa burutu duenari gure lehen emozioa aurpegian botako. Gainera, denbora izango dugu pentsatzeko, haurrari lagunduko diona pentsatzeko, aurretik honelako egoera bat ematen denean planifikatu duguna burura ekartzeko denbora, gure burua antolatzeko denbora.

Bide batez, agresioa burutu duen haurrak ere denbora izango du pentsatzeko. Ia beti gaizki sentituko da egindakoagatik. Maiz, ezkutatu egingo da, alde egiten saiatuko da, ezer gertatu izan ez balitz bezala jolastuko da. Alde egiten badu, ez zaio utziko; mezu argia bidali behar zaio: ezin duela jolasten jarraitu psikomotrizistak esateko duena entzun arte, harekin hitz egin arte. Hitzik egin nahi ez badu, bankuan esararaziko dugu hitz egiteko prest dagoen arte. Honelako haurrek nortasun sendoa behar dute aurrean, iraunkortasuna behar dute, eta mezu garbia: mundua hankazgora jartzen ohitua zaude, baina ni ez nauzu urduri jarriko. Bere ekintza okerra izan dela jakin arazi behar zaio: jo egin duzu, nahita egin duzu, eta hori ezin da egin. Haurrak jakin behar du helduak bermatzen duen araua hautsi duela, eta hori ezin dela egin, baina horrekin batera haurrari irtenbidea eskaini behar diogu: gainera, zuk badakizu ongi asko jolasten, nik ikusi zaitut beste batzuetan halako eta halako egiten; goazen, erakuts iezadazu nola egiten duzun hori.

Ez da pentsatu behar hau egindako lehenengoan haurraren jarrera aldatuko denik. Haurrak jotzen duen bakoitzean behin eta berriro egingo dugu gauza bera, haurrak guk nahi edo espero genuen bezala erantzun ez arren. Ezin diogu eskatu haurrari guk hari asko "eman" diogulako, hark guri ere asko emanez erantzutea. Egonkor, iraunkor eta sendoak izan behar dugu, eta ez diogu haurrari beldurrik izan behar, ez bere kasketei, ez negarrei, ezta haserreei ere. Honelako haurrak bi gauzek lasaitzen dituzte: egiturak eta afektuak. Normalean, ez dute integratu egitura eta afektua pertsona beraren eskutik etor daitezkeenik, haien bizitzan pertsona desberdinengandik jaso dituzte. Haurrak hori ulertu eta onartzen duenean, aurrerapauso handia egin ohi du.

Ildo beretik jarraituz, ez da inoiz pentsatu behar agresioa burutzen duen haurrak gu zailtasunetan jartzeko egiten duenik, ezta dibertitzeko ere. Haur Hezkuntzako etapan haurrek ez dute gaitasunik kontzienteki arrazoituz gu izorratzeko asmoz ezer egiteko. Haiek zerbait egitean erantzun bat jasotzen dutela behatuta erantzun hori bilatzeko izan daiteke, baina ez dute helduaren intentzionaltasunik haien ekintzetan.

Aholku orokor gisa, haurra entzuten saiatu behar gara, gure emozioek hura estali gabe haurra entzuten, dirudiena baino zailagoa dena.

Agresioari buelta emateko beste modu bat agresioa jolas bihurtzea da, jolasetik agresiorako bidea egiten den moduan, kontrako bidea egitea. Beste baten etxea bota duen haurrari proposatu diezaiokegu harentzat etxeak egin eta berarekin batera botatzea.

Helburua, azken batean, agresioaren espirala haustea da, agresioak tentsioa areagotzen baitu, eta horrek era berean agresioa berriro gertatzea errazten baitu. Hortaz, etengabe elikatzen den dinamika hori hautsi behar da.

Agresioa burutu duen haurra bankura eseritzera bidaltzean, garrantzitsua da berak eta beste lagunek hori zigor bezala ez ikustea. Haur bat bankura bidaliko da taldearen segurtasuna hautsi denean, eta segurtasun hori berreskuratzean bueltatu ahal izango da bertara. Bankuan dagoen bitartean, haurra gonbidatuko dugu beste lagunak behatzera eta gogoraraziko diogu berak ere badakiela minik eman gabe jolasten. Berriz ere jo gabe jolasteko prest dagoenean sartuko dela esango zaio, eta momentu hori noiz iritsi den psikomotrizistak erabakiko du.

Bestetik, ona da ere arrisku handirik ez badago, elkar jo duten bi haurrei denbora pixka bat uztea haien liskarra konpontzeko. Psikomotrizistak haurrengan konfiantza duela adierazi behar die, haien gaitasunengan sinesten duela azaldu.

Autoagresioen atzean maiz beldurra edo gehiegizko kulpabilitatea daude; haurra oso errudun sentitzen da eta bere buruari bueltatzen dio mina, bere burua zigortzen du. Lehendabizi, agresibitate hori askatu beharra dago, agresibitateari erruaren pisua kendu, materialetara bideratuz, eta hori txalotu. Bestetik, haurra osotasunean begiratu behar da, ongi egiten duen guztia errekonozitu eta saritu.

Inhibizioan, aldiz, gehienetan helduak onartu ez duen oinarrizko agresibitatea dugu. Helduak haurrari emandako mezua ondokoa izan da: agresibitatea txarra da, erreprimitu behar duzu. Agresibitatea erreprimitzearen ondorioa sormenaren galera da. Horregatik, haur inhibituak maiz ikasle onak dira, arkumearen azalarekin mozorrotutako otsoak, benetazkoa ez den nortasuna garatu duten haurrak. Hala ere, badaude sasi-inhibituak diren haurrak, benetan kapritxoz inhibitu direnak, frustrazioa behar bezala bizi ez dutelako eskolara iristean han parte hartuko ez dutela erabaki dutenak. Benetako inhibitu direnekin haurrak errespetatua izango denaren mezua oso argi jaso behar du, oso argi utzi behar zaio hura ez dugula ezer egitera behartuko. Maiz, harremana hastea zaila izango da, eta materialaren bitartez has daiteke. Haur hauek gehiegizko larritasuna dute, segurtasun sendoagoa eraiki behar dute. Inhibizioa atzean uzten ari denaren seinalea haurrak bere kabuz zerbait egitea izango da, ez guk eskatuta edo bultzatuta, baizik eta argi eta garbi bere ekimenez zerbait egiten duenean. Orduan bakarrik pentsatu ahal izango dugu zerbait aldatu dela haurrarengan. Gauzak ondo badoaz, inhibizioa gainditzen hasten denean, lehenago edo beranduago, agresibitatea aterako du haurrak, eta seinale ona izango da, eta orduan hori bideratu beharko dugu, sentsibilitate handiz, haurra berriz ere uzkurtu ez dadin. Normalean, gorputza asko kontrolatzen duten haurrak dira, beldur dira gorputza aske uzteko.

Azken hitz batzuk 0-3 zikloan agresioen inguruan. Haurra desplazatzen hasten denean, baina oraindik komunikatzeko gaitasuna gehiegi garatu ez duenean, oso ohikoak dira agresioak. Garrantzitsua da helduak lasaitasuna mantentzea, afektu asko eskaintzea, eta psikomotrizitateko gela agresibitatea kanporatzeko prestatua egotea (guztia txukunegi ez edukitzea, koska egiteko materialak eskaintzea, eta abar).

Bukatzeko, nire iritzi pertsonala bilduko dut laburki. Practicum I-eko esperientziak blogean bildu nituenean Alvaro Beñaranek azaldutako ideia asko irudikatzen zituzten egoerak adierazi nituen, agresioaren eta inhibizioaren inguruan, eta nire tutorearen eskutik ikusi ahal izan nuen hitzaldian proposatu zitzaigun helduaren rola beregan. Gai horien inguruan behatutakoaren arrasto asko ikus daitezke haurrek nigan sortutako emozio eta sentipenen inguruko autobehaketa ariketan, adibidez, baita Practicum I-eko esperientziak bildu zituzten beste hainbat sarreretan ere. Izan ere, Practicum II-rako tutore eta gela berarekin lanean jarraitzen erabakiaren arrazoietako bat Alvaro Beñaranen hitzaldian azaldutako gaien inguruan gelan erronka suposatzen duten haur mordoxka bat dagoela jakitea izan da.

Alvaro Beñaranek esandakoak psikomotrizitateko saioetarako ez ezik, irakaslearen eguneroko jardunerako oinarrizko gaiak iruditzen zaizkit, egiazko irakasle ona besteen artean desberdintzen duten horietakoak. Bukatzeko, agresibitatearen inguruan norberak izandako esperientziaz gogoeta egitearen garratziaz ohartuta nago, baina gai korapilatsua dela argi dut ere, barruda begirada sakona eskatzen duena. Zentzu horretan, esango nuke tartea egina dudala iruditzen zaidala, baina egina izanagatik ere, beste horrenbeste aurrean dudala ere uste dut. Hezkuntzan badirudi ia beti batek egindakoa bezain beste duela aurrean, ibilitako bidea zeinen luze izan den inporta gabe; beti ikusten dut nire burua itsasoaren erdian.

Lost in genre, or the world of sounds and letters

Once upon a time, there was the world of sounds and letters, composed of many kingdoms. The kingdom of I was ruled by a tall and thin king. The king's city was large and beautiful; all made of buildings with straight and long walls that were designed by efficient architects and built by skilled masons.

The king was so pleased with the masons that he decided to give them a gift: they would travel to the kingdom of S, so they would have the chance to see the splendid buildings that the king of S had in his city. The king of I thought that everything in the kingdom of S was so much more sophisticated, stunning and superb than in his own kingdom, and he was sure that the masons would really enjoy the opportunity to experience such wonders. For instance, the king of I felt that while his was a plain ruling stick, just a straight and long rod, the king of S had a proper sceptre, with all sorts of ornament and beautiful curves. The palaces and buildings in the city of S were also special, full of sculptures, domes and spirals and gardens with round mazes.

So, the masons of the kingdom of I set out to visit the city of S, hoping to learn about how those beautiful buildings the king talked about were built. But they were plain brick masons, who knew just about laying bricks using mortar to make straight walls, and they couldn't figure out how the domes and spirals of the city of S were built. While they visited the city of S, once every now and then they would stumble on a straight piece of wall, built with square bricks, and they would stop to observe how those had been built, but they could not learn much about the rest.

They were happy to return to the kingdom of I, where the straight walls looked familiar. The king invited them to his palace, as he wanted to listen to all the wonders they had to tell about the city of S and its beauties. The masons felt a bit ashamed, because they had to admit that they weren't able to discover the secrets of the buildings in the city of S. They had managed to learn the names of the elements those bizarre buildings had: Tuscan columns, Corinthian columns, spiral domes, onion domes, oval domes and so on, but that was about it.

After that, the masons returned to their work in the city of I, partly relieved to go back to what they mastered, but also feeling a twinge of guilt for not having been able to accomplish what the king had set. And the king wondered whether what he had intended to be a gift had turned out to be a curse. Maybe he should have sent them to the kingdom of H, where straight walls are combined in right angles to create intricate patterns.

Usage-based approaches to language learning: an overall view

The following is a summary of the contents of Andrea Tyler's article on usage-based approaches to language learning:

Andrea Tyler (2010). Usage-Based Approaches to Language and Their Applications to Second Language Learning. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 30, pp 270-291. doi:10.1017/S0267190510000140.

The article examines three usage-based models: systemic functional linguistics (SFL), discourse functionalism and cognitive linguistics (CL), as well as their applications to second language (L2) learning. While SFL is the most developed of the three, CL is the newcomer, and that is the reason why the author pays particular attention to it.

Common aspects of the three models
Usage-based approaches defend that the language of each one of us is acquired as a result of communicative situations with members of our linguistic community where we use language to exchange meanings. These approaches rely in five principles:

• Language is meant for communicating, and is shaped through communication.
• Language happens in a context, which influences in the choices the user takes when she produces an utterance.
• Language is learned. Patterns of usage and frequency play a key role in the learning process.
• Not only lexical items (words, sayings, idioms) have meanings, grammatical patterns also have meaning beyond the lexical items that they are composed of.
• From a syntactic point of view, language has a single level (not sure of what that means, though).

Systemic Functional Linguistics
SFL began with Halliday's work on the 70's, who stressed the communicational function of language and claimed that language transmits not only information, but culture itself. At the same time we communicate an idea or a fact, we also transmit information about who we are, our values, desires, etc. Therefore, each language has a set of genres, each one of them suited for a particular sub-culture (dentists, teenagers, etc.). As a result, each one of us can use several genres, depending of "the hat we wear" on each occasion. There are three main contextual factors that shape genre: field (what we are talking about), tenor (the social roles played by those taking part in the scene), and mode (the rules that set how language should be used in that particular context).

Those three contextual factors are linked with three communicative metafunctions, which exist simultaneously and interactively in any text: ideational (what the text is about), interpersonal (what kind of relationships exist among those who take part in the scene) and textual (about the coherence and flow of the discourse).

My reading of this article illustrates these factors and metafunctions and how language can also be used to make someone realise she is out of place; I can understand the literal meaning of most words, but I am aware that most of the meaning contained in it remains hidden to me, because field, tenor and mode are unfamiliar. I have put it in other words in this tale about the world of sounds and letters.

Depending on those factors and related metafunctions, the user will choose a particular linguistic pattern, within a network of closed systems of options offered by the language she is using, which will be the best suited for communication taking all factors into account. Thus, the form of language depends on the communicative function altogether, and has nothing to do with cognitive or neuro-physical aspects.

SFL focuses on text, because that is where meaning lies. It is not particularly interested in the listener or the role of cognition.

SFL has been applied to L2 learning mainly focusing on genre-defined texts.

Discourse functionalism
Discourse functionalism focuses on the relationships among grammar, discourse and the producers of discourse, but disregard genre. Besides socio-cultural aspects, it also takes into account cognitive factors, such as memory. Iconicity (a resemblance between language and the concepts it represents) would be a proof of the influence of cognitive factors on language, although this proposal has received some criticism.

Cognitive linguistics
This approach also recognises the importance of discourse-level phenomena (whatever they are, since it doesn't appear clear to me reading the text) and iconicity. What makes this approach different from the previous one is its ultimate goal: developing a model of language which will explain cognitive aspects from a neural-physical point of view, as well as human interaction within the social and the natural environment. CL assumes that different areas of language should reflect the same neural-cognitive principles, and looks for evidence for that in psychology and neuroscience.

Thus, cognition would be determined to a great extent by physical and neural factors and their interaction with the environment, both social and natural. For instance, human bipedalism and the way it determines how we interact with our environment would lead to linking erectness with meanings related to resilience in a metaphoric sense. Perceptive factors, such as the ground/figure relation would also reflect on language pattern. Moreover, humans would use their understanding about the natural environment (concrete concepts) to represent internal phenomena (abstract concepts), such as emotions.

In summary, CL claims that cognition is important enough to explain language by itself, with no need to look at additional factors. The key cognitive capacities include classifying, pattern finding, inference and memory, resulting in the conclusion that language learning relies heavily on input frequency. Therefore, CL studies in depth exemplar based learning, abstraction over several instances and automaticity as a result of entrenchment due to input frequency. In this approach, language would be seen as a by-product of cognition.

Another important difference between CL and the other two approaches refers to sensory-motor imagery, which CL believes to be an essential part of human conceptualisation. In other words, according to this approach humans think a lot "in images" and through other sensory perceptions, so language wouldn't necessarily be the main means for thinking. This ability to conceptualise based on resources other than language would influence on language itself. For example, it would allow a speaker to focus on a particular perspective of a given spatial scene in order to choose how she will describe it.

The application of CL to L2 learning is still incipient. It has been applied to vocabulary learning, where apparently learners of L2 which are made aware about patterns of metaphor and metonymy learn and retain new words better. Thus, improving metalinguistic abilities would help to learn L2.

More on abstract syntactic constructions

I tend to be overoptimistic about what I can actually accomplish, driven more by desire than realistic appraisal of my capabilities and the hours each day has. As a result, the weekend has gone by and I have not been able to start reading any of the two articles I am supposed to summarise before the first week of February is over. I have only been able to finish reading Tomasello's book chapter on abstract syntactic constructions, so I will write on that, I guess.

As I suspected, the reading has consisted of 80% educated guess and 20% real understanding, at the most, which are quite bad figures for lifting spirits up, I must admit. I had no trouble understanding the language itself, as I encountered very few words I did not know (preemption, posit), but understanding the meanings contained in those words was something else. I know too little about grammar and about linguistics to understand in depth what is discussed in the chapter. Now, I can just imagine how some of my classmates that must have had trouble understanding the text itself will come to class tomorrow...

These are some clear ideas I managed to get out of the text:

• This is a book on linguistics, not on language teaching. Thus, little of what is said is directly linked with teaching English at preschool ages, although those who know enough about linguistics and language teaching will most probably be able to bridge that gap and extract very interesting conclusions. Unfortunately, I am not in that position.
• The chapter our group had to read deals with the mechanics of constructing abstract constructions, not the motivational part of the process. As a result, it is not the most exciting thing one can read over the weekend, to be honest.
• Analogy is one basic skill that children use to create abstract constructions. They compare language structures they hear and align the elements that play the same communicative role, so they can then extend that "rule" to new utterances they create.
• Functionally based distributional analysis is another process that children apply to create abstract constructions. This allows them to classify the smallest units of language into categories such as noun and verb, not depending on formal aspects, but on the function that those elements have within a sentence. This classification is not done in a thorough way by children, but rather following a mosaic pattern, depending on their use of language (input they receive and output they produce, plus the feedback the adult sends).
• Early in development, children are conservative learners, and they are mostly influenced by the input they receive, so they "copy" what the adult says, and many constructions are that way entrenched by repetition. Later on, they become more adventurous in their use of language, much more creative, so they start generalising what they learn through analogy and distributional analysis. Of course, many times they will come up with constructions that the adult will judge correct, but others they will overgeneralise. To prevent overgeneralisation errors, children have two additional processes: giving preference to the constructions made by adults (preemption) and making categories of verbs that behave in the same manner (verb classes), so they apply what they know to be correct from one known member of a category to the rest of verbs in the same group. Those are the processes which help children constrain their otherwise excessive creativity with language.

Regarding practical issues that are directly related to preschool teaching, I have found the following:

• The computer model proposed in the connectionist theories, where the computer needed to learn simple sentences first, before it could proceed to more complex structures, and the way the amount of input was limited in order not to "overload" the computer (by limiting the working memory) resembles some aspects of our ontogeny, where some senses, like sight, are limited at birth, and some argue that might have a similar function.
• When it comes to making questions, children seem to acquire them in this order across languages: what/where, who, how/why, when. Well, that would be something we would expect, since children take some time to grasp causality and the notion of time.
• Children seem to apply general cognitive skills, abilities and processes to learn language. This means that children learn language the same way they learn other things. It is interesting to see that they apply one-to-one correspondence to make analogies to construct abstract constructions, and they use this same skill to construct the notion of numbers and to count, as we have learnt in the unit on mathematical thinking. Also, it could be argued that many of the steps of processes explained in the chapter bear similarities with the scientific method we have used in the unit of experimental sciences, which seems to be quite similar to the way children learn about their environment.
• Some general cognitive operating principles that children apply to language learning seem to be: paying attention to the ends of words, paying attention to stressed syllables, note frequency of use and compare utterances heard with those the child would produce in the same situation. Therefore, we should pay attention to those aspects in our adult output.
• We should provide children with input where the structural variables are not too many, in order to promote analogy. Thus, we need diversity (structural variation) of input, but no chaos.
• We should introduce or encourage novelties in language in meaningful communicational contexts, that is, following what children are interested in talking about, not creating artificial situations that will enable us to introduce what we want them to learn.
• Bilingual children tend to overgeneralise syntactic structures from the language they know best to the one they know less well, so in our sociolinguistic context we should expect more overgeneralisation from Spanish to Basque than the other way around.
• Due to developmental aspects explained above, we should expect overgeneralisation errors after the age of three or so.
• Most important of all, the adult can promote syntactic growth by recasting "wrong" structures that children produce IMMEDIATELY AFTER they have been said. The adult should give an alternative expression to the child, so she can compare her utterance and that of the adult to understand the differences between both. Right timing of exemplars is vital.

How do children learn how to speak?

During the last couple of weeks of our unit on foreign language learning, we will explore a bit the theoretical foundations of many of the principles we have put into practice in the previous weeks, which led us to make a proposal with some activities to learn English in preschool, which I presented here a few days ago.

So far, we have only begun to read one chapter of Michael Tomasello's book titled Constructing a Language: A Usage-Based Theory of Language Acquisition in groups. Our group will work on the chapter dealing with abstract syntactic constructions, which we will need to understand in order to explain its contents to the rest of our class. Besides doing that, we will have to write a summary on two articles about related subjects among a selection offered by our teacher. I have chosen the following two:
   Andrea Tyler (2010). Usage-Based Approaches to Language and Their Applications to Second Language Learning. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 30, pp 270-291. doi:10.1017/S0267190510000140.
   Nick C. Ellis (2002). REFLECTIONS ON FREQUENCY EFFECTS IN LANGUAGE PROCESSING. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 24, pp 297-339. doi:10.1017/S0272263102002140.

I was thinking about the book by Tomasello when I woke up this morning. I love weekend mornings, because I can lie in bed, quietly thinking, while the day starts. Objects begin to recover their shapes first, then their colours, while I let my mind wander.

I only managed to read a few pages of the chapter yesterday. As one of my group mates pointed out, Tomasello is an honest writer, and he sets very clearly what he intends to defend and his view on linguistics at the beginning of the chapter. The problem is that this reading is far from Ausubel's meaningful learning for us, in the sense that it takes a giant leap from our previous knowledge on the matter, leaving us with a basis too small to grant full understanding of what we read. Nevertheless, we will do our best; explain what we believe we have understood, and make an educated guess on the rest.

The title of Tomasello's book states clearly that his theory is set within the usage-based approach to language acquisition. Now, I hope to learn a bit more on this approach in one of my additional readings, but what I know so far is that this approach defends that language use is the main driving force for the acquisition of language, and that communication is at the core of the whole process.

Before continuing with Tomasello's introduction on his chapter, I must say that the title of his book seems a bit contradictory to me. Is language constructed, or acquired? By acquisition I understand getting something that is outside of yourself; taking it. Constructing would refer to building it inside out; just the opposite. Developing it would refer to some previously existing guideline or plan. So, I see that one needs to carefully choose the verb on a topic like this. From the little I know, I would say that I think that as individuals we recreate language; we recreate the universe that our community offers to us. And through the negotiation on the individual recreations of the whole community, we create language, understood as a common cultural element. I am sure there are proper scientific terms for my "recreation" and "creation", but unfortunately I don't know them. How else can we explain why languages change and evolve, if there is no room for individual and collective variation? The closest I have come to reading anything on language ecology is actually related to the phylogeny of a tale, for an assignment on our unit about plastic arts, but as a biologist the idea of languages evolving similarly to living organisms looks attractive. It would be nice to learn a bit about that, but it doesn't seem like it will be in our group's chapter, although another one towards the end of the book looks promising.

Returning back to the introduction on our chapter, I must admit I don't quite understand what abstract syntactic constructions are, as the examples of abstract experiential scenes Tomasello mentions seem quite concrete or objective to me: people acting on objects, objects changing state or location, people giving people things, things being acted upon. The most abstract among those he mentions are people experiencing psychological states and objects or people being in a state.

Regardless of whether Tomasello's abstract is abstract enough or not, it is quite clear what he is talking about. He also sets some basic concepts in the introduction of his chapter. On the one hand, he proposes some cognitive processes that will enable children to create these abstract constructions: analogy and distributional analysis. Thus, apparently children compare utterances (units of speech, so to say) and build new ones based on the structural similarities they detect or foresee. In other words, children "guess" language through analogies. When children apply distributional analysis to language they analyse the components of language and group together elements that behave in the same way, although Tomasello talks about functionally based distributional analysis, where the classification of language elements would result in grouping together elements that play similar communicative roles. So, children would also put together elements of language that are used to name objects, for instance, in a different group from those which are used to name actions.

On the other hand, Tomasello explains two other processes that children use to create these abstract constructions: generalisation and constraint. Generalisation would be an outward driving force, which would lead children to apply a rule identified in several elements of the same group to others. For example, I remember that when I was in my Practicum I, one of the 4 year-olds in the class was new to Basque, and he had begun to construct Basque verbs by adding the particle -tu to Spanish words for verbs (rompi-tu, corta-tu, etc.). He was generalising; actually, he was overgeneralising. Constraint would be an inward driving force that would prevent children from overgeneralising or, more precisely, would allow them to generalise only in the direction their linguistic community deems appropriate.

Quite clearly, constraint requires more fine tuning than generalisation does, so more efforts have been employed trying to explain it. Generativists rely mainly on innate universal grammar to explain it, so an intuitive knowledge about language would guide children in the complex dynamics between generalisation and constraint. Tomasello isn't among those who believe such things, but rather believes in the usage-based approach, where three processes have been proposed to explain how this happens: entrenchment, preemption and formation of mainly semantic verb classes. Tomasello doesn't explain in depth these three processes, so in order to understand them a bit I have found another article. Preemtion means blocking in this context, so the "right" or conventional form used by the adult would eventually block the unconventional form created by the child. Entrenchment refers to a repeated use of a verb in different sentences, which would lead the child to infer that a use different from what has been heard will be ungrammatical, so it works well for elements that are quite frequent in the input children receive. The third process occurs when children group together verbs in different categories (verbs about "ways to move", such as bounce, roll or slid, for instance), and predict how a verb new to them will behave based on the behaviour of another one of the same group that they already know about.

We must note that the concepts Tomasello's book deals with are currently being debated among the scientific community, and Tomasello's views might not be as widely accepted as one might think while reading the book. For instance, the author of the article I just mentioned is much more critical about the effectiveness of the three processed described above regarding constraint. I highly doubt the average preschool teacher, among which I intend to be one day, will be able to form an opinion on such matters but, nevertheless, this reading is a very good exercise for many other things.

So far, I am afraid I have only covered the first page of the chapter, and I wasn't even meant to write about it! Well, in summary, Tomasello believes that children develop syntax (the principles that rule how small elements of language are combined to create larger elements, such as sentences) through the use of language, and paying special attention to the communicative intention and function of those elements, that is, what they are used for, and why they are used.

I would like to end with a reflection on the cognitive processes of children, compared to those of adults. I haven't been able to read what Tomasello writes about it, so I really don't know what he has to say over this matter. Still, I have a feeling that, in general, we tend to think about children's productions as more rudimentary than those coming from adults and, by extension, of children's thinking as more rudimentary than adult thinking too. I just revised this morning what we wrote about this issue in our experimental sciences didactic sequence, and added a reference to a really interesting documentary series titled Baby Human, which we watched last year and I liked very much. One of the six episodes of the series was devoted to baby thinking, and it proves how sophisticated it is. As a matter of fact, it seems children are very smart before they start school, as Ken Robinson states in his talk on changing paradigms:

Apparently, they lose part of their divergent thinking as they get older in school. On the other hand, during the degree we have had the opportunity to learn that children have some anatomical or physiological adaptations which are lost after some months or years after they are born, such as reflexes, the ability to breathe and swallow at the same time without choking. They are even able to put their toe in their mouth, something that only few well trained adults can do! Maybe they also have additional cognitive abilities which adults lack. Maybe they ARE smarter than we are. Actually, I would argue that THEY MUST be smarter, because they need to learn more than adults. If children on the Baby Human series could tell us what they are thinking, I bet we would be quite surprised!

I can't help but think on "A room of one's own" by Virginia Woolf I was reading last night:

"Women have served all these centuries as looking-glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size. Without that power probably the earth would still be swamp and jungle."

Children are also comforting mirrors for us adults, but I wouldn't be surprised if in a few years from now the idea of children being smarter than adults were quite widespread.

Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu-aren bidean beste behin ere

Gure irakasle batek Moodle-en jarritako materialaren artean irakurgai eder hau sartu du. Blog honetara aurretik ekarritako umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu-aren ildo berekoa denez, oso gustura irakurri dut.

Sarrera honek ez du hitz gehiagoren beharrik.

Baby Human dokumental-saila

Joan den ikasturtean haurtzaroaren psikologiari buruzko ikasgaian dokumental-sail hau ikusi genuen. 2003an egindakoa da, eta sei kapitulu ditu (Oinez ibiltzea, Pentsatzea, Hitz egitea, Sentitzea, Harremantzea eta Ulertzea). Haurtzaro goiztiarrean haurrak duen garapen kognitiboa azaltzen du jaioberriak direnetik bizpahiru urteak bete arteko haurrekin egindako esperimentuen bitartez, modu ulerterrazean.

Izugarri gustukoa izan nuen, eta konturatu naiz hona ekarri gabe nuela. Webgune honetan sei kapituluetara estekak daude, baten bat ez dabilen arren, eta nahiko erraza da YouTuben edo beste iturri batzuetan kapituluak aurkitzea.

Ipuinei lapatuta

Joan den lauhilekoa ipuinen aldia izan da niretzat; guztiak ipuinen inguruan egin du bira. Haur literaturaren ikasgaiaz gain, besteetan ere ipuinetara jo dut lanak egiteko.

Bereziki interesgarria iruditu zait arte plastikoen inguruan landutako jarduera didaktikoa, ipuin beraren (Txanogorritxo) bi bertsio alderatzeari buruzkoa. Ariketa polita iruditzen zait haurrek begirada kritikoa lantzen hasteko.

Psikologia eta hezkuntza positiboa

Ez dakit izena oso ondo hautatua ote dagoen (bestea psikologia negatiboa al da, bada?), baina oinarrizko konpetentziak landuz egunero zoriontsuak izaten ikastea proposatzen duen programa hau interesgarria iruditu zait. Oraingoz gainetik begiratu baino ezin izan dut egin, baina etxeko-lanen artean jarri beharko dut, gradua hasi genuenetik hezkuntzaren xede nagusia (agian bakarra) pertsona zoriontsuak egiten laguntzea dela iruditu baitzait.

Hemen programaren azalpena bideoa ikus dezakezue, ingelesez, edo YouTuben bila dezakezue (Happy Classrooms: Ricardo Arguis at TEDxZaragoza).
.

Our CLIL project

I have written very little about the unit on learning a foreign language, because all of our group production is gathered in our blog and a website where we present the project we created. It has been a very interesting experience, and I think I can share the self-evaluation that I sent to our teacher here.

Regarding our group’s work, I would say that overall it has been excellent. Ours has been a very solid group, with highly committed partners. In my opinion, one of the keys was that during those weeks when we had two “free” classes we used them to discuss readings, which we all read home. We had really interesting dialogic readings there. Having said that, I think our group peaked at the Zerain project’s proposals, instead of our own project. It seemed as if we employed most of our creativity and energy in the one that was intended to be the rehearsal, and we found it hard to keep up the level, at least regarding the design of activities. We did pay quite some attention to the overall setting of our project, and we thought carefully about how to do the free circulation (first we wanted to mix groups of different ages, and we tied to design that, but we had some doubts, and changed it, etc.). We also took time to have a blog for the process and a web for the outcome of the project, which shows the interest we placed in the unit and our work.

When it comes to my participation in our group, I am very happy with myself. I think that my greatest contribution has been being the “gentle pusher”, especially those first weeks, when we could have lost some precious time that we were not going to be able to recover in the last weeks of what turned to be a quite intense term, regarding assignments. I have also been the one trying to keep up with the readings in the last few weeks. I have been as active as I usually am in group work. But, as I have said, ours is a really good group, and it is always easy to feel good about the contribution of oneself when you are in good company. The only down side has been the feeling that sometimes I was letting one of my group-mates down, because I am a really bad interpreter, and I couldn’t listen and translate at the same time for her. I know she has felt frustrated and hasn’t learnt as much as she would have liked. Many times during the term I wondered if it would have been better to be just the two of us, and do a one-to-one CLIL between two adults, but then again, that raised many doubts: would what we learnt have been transferrable to preschool CLIL? would you have had time to give us support, bearing into account that there were many other groups in class? would we have learnt the same about CLIL as we have? I don’t know. I was very pleased with my presentation on the book “Don’t let the pigeon drive the bus”, but not so much with my part in the last day’s presentation; I was really exhausted, it had been quite a terrible week, and I didn’t have the energy I would have liked. It was a good thing I did the first one.

About my participation in class, I must admit I have felt a bit uneasy. I didn’t want to overshadow anyone or set any standard, and I have tried not to participate too much. It is something I have given a lot of thought about during the term, although I have not reached a final conclusion about the issue yet. And, once again, our class makes a very good group, where I feel accepted the way I am. I took part in the happy class beginning and the classroom journalism, and I think that my attitude has always been positive and constructive, so I am also very happy about my participation in the group.

I think that I have learnt a lot in the unit, not only about CLIL, which I had never heard of before, but about being a teacher too. I found our role playing sessions very inspiring, there was a formidable progression in the whole group, and I really learnt a lot there. I think it has been an attractive and solid introduction for the minor I will hopefully take next year.

Pentsamendu matematikoaren garapena

Pentsamendu matematikoaren garapenari buruz hirugarren mailako lehen lauhilekoan izan dugun ikasgaia oso interesgarria izan da. Alde batetik, pentsamendu matematikoa haurrengan nola garatzen den ikasi dugu, graduaren hasieran psikologiaren arlotik landutako autore batzuen iritziak aztertuta (Piaget, bereziki).

Bestetik, matematikaren garapenaren historiako alderdi batzuk ezagutu ahal izan ditugu, zenbakikuntza sistemen inguruan bereziki.

Gelan landutako eduki batzuk Haur Hezkuntzan matematikaren didaktikari buruzkoak izan dira, batez ere gai bakoitzaren inguruan material didaktikoak aztertu ditugunean. Hala ere, edukietako asko gu haurraren tokian jartzera zuzenduta egon dira, pentsamendu matematikoaren garapenak zenbaterainoko konplexutasuna zuzenean esperimenta dezagun. Horrela, guretzat hain ohiko bihurtu den hamar oinarria alde batera utzi, eta bestelako oinarrietan eragiketa aritmetikoak egin ditugu, heldutan arnas hartzea bezain natural iruditzen zaizkigun batuketak, kenketak, biderketak eta zatiketak haur batek lehen aldiz lantzen dituenean sentituko duenaz jabe gaitezen.

Jarraian, ikasitako kontzeptuetako batzuk laburbilduko ditut, ikasgaiaren laburpen gisa.

Alderdi metodologikoari begiratuta, matematikaren arlotik bi autore nagusi aipatu ditugu: bata, aurreko puntuan aipatutako Bruner, eta bestea Dienes. Bruner-en garapen kognitiboaren teoriaren arabera, gizakiok kontzeptuak eraikitzeko bideak hiru urrats hauek jarraitzen ditu:

1. Manipulaziozko maila: haurrak mundua arituz ulertzen du (Piaget-en etapa sentso-motorraren antzekoa litzateke).
2. Maila grafikoa: haurra mundua irudikatzen hasten da. Kontzeptu matematikoen kasuan, objektuaren krokisa edo eskema sortuko du. (Piaget-en aurre-eragiketen etaparen antzekoa litzateke).
3. Maila sinbolikoa: haurrak ideia abstraktuak, sinboloak, hizkuntza eta logika ulertu eta erabiliko ditu. Kontzeptu matematikoen kasuan, objektuaren sinboloa erabiliko du.

Helduok ere aplikatzen ditugu hiru urrats hauek berria den zerbait ikasteko. Horregatik, oso garrantzitsua da ikaskuntza prozesuan hiru etapa hauek errespetatzea. Haur Hezkuntzako etapan zehar hiru urratsak burutzen dituen kontzeptu matematiko nagusia (eta normalean bakarra) zifra bakarreko zenbaki arruntak dira.

Dienes matematikari eta psikopedagogoak, bestetik, matematikako kontzeptuen irakaskuntzarako lau printzipio proposatu zituen:

1. Printzipio dinamikoa: haurrek manipulaziozko esperimentaziotik abiatu behar dute kontzeptu matematikoen ikaskuntzan, eta material didaktikoak sekuentzia honi jarraituz erabili behar dira:
• Jolas librea: haurrari materiala aurkeztu eta nahi duen bezala jolasten utziko zaio.
• Jolas arautua: arauak emanez jolasak proposatuko zaizkio haurrari.
• Estrategia jolasak: helburu bat finkatu eta horretara iristeko modu desberdinak daudenez, haurrak bat aukeratu beharko du, arauak errespetatuta. Haur Hezkuntzan ez da lantzen zuzenean, baina bai lantzen da helburu batera iristeko modu diferenteak daudela.
2. Osotasun printzipioa: haurrak hamar bat urte bete arte, eta zenbat eta txikiago, orduan eta gehiago, osotasunetik abiatu behar da, objektua bere osotasunean landu behar da, eta ez bere propietateak isolaturik.
3. Aldakortasun matematikoaren printzipioa: kontzeptu matematikoak bestelako kontzeptu matematikoekin batera agertzen dira, ez isolatuta. Horregatik, kontzeptu bat lantzeko kontzeptu matematiko lagungarriez baliatuko gara. Adibidez, zenbaki arruntak maila grafikoan lantzean, ikurren konfigurazioa eta haien arteko distantzia aldatuko ditugu.
4. Aldakortasun pertzeptiboaren printzipioa: kontzeptu matematikoak askotariko material eta ariketak erabilita landuko ditugu.

Sailkapena eta seriatzeari lotuta, horiek landu ahal izateko haurrak hainbat oinarrizko garapen logiko beharrezko ditu: objektuari lotuta dauden analisia eta sintesia, eta prozesuari lotutako dedukzioa eta indukzioa. Hona hemen horien azalpenak:

• Analisia: objektuaren ezaugarriak zerrendatzean datza; zer den, eta zer ez den azaltzea. Propietateak (kolorea, adibidez) eta propietate bakoitzaren balioa (gorria, adibidez) zehaztuz egiten da.
• Sintesia: kontrako ariketa da; propietateen balioetatik abiatuta, objektua identifikatzea. Asmakizun moduan plantea daiteke (horia da, handia eta azal leunekoa; zein pieza da?).

Sintesia eta analisia lotuta daude; zenbat eta analisia gehiago landu, orduan eta errazago egingo da sintesia. Sailkapena egin ahal izateko, analisia ezinbestekoa da.

• Dedukzioa: arau bat jasota, arau hori beteko duen prozesua abiaraztean datza.
• Indukzioa: prozesu bat ikusita, berau azalduko duen legea formulatzean datza.

Adibidez, haurrari segida bat erakutsi eta jarrai dezala eskatzen zaionean, indukzioa aplikatuko du legea aurkitzeko, eta dedukzioa segida osatzeko. Seriatzea egiteko dedukzioa ezinbestekoa da.
Geometriaren arloan, haurra irudiaren propietate geometriko ezberdinez jabetzen joango da garapenean zehar, ordena honi jarraituta:

1. Ezaugarri topologikoak: marra irekia/itxia, irudiaren barruan/kanpoan/ertzean, antolatzearen ordena/tartean. Piaget-en esanetan, hiru urterekin ematen da jabetza.
2. Ezaugarri proiektiboak: marra zuzena eta poligono motaz ohartzea. 5-6 urterekin lortzen dira.
3. Antzekotasunezko ezaugarriak: paralelotasuna, angeluak.
4. Ezaugarri isometrikoak: luzerak

Hala ere, Van Hiele, Dina eta Pierre-ren ustez, geometriaren ulermena, maila batetik aurrera, garapenari bano gehiago esperientziari lotua dago, hau da, geometriaren lanketari.

Erreferentzia sistemei dagokienez, Haur Hezkuntzako etapako haurrak bere burua erabiliko du lehendabizi erreferentzia gisa, ondoren besteak bere buruarekiko kokatu ahal izango ditu, eta azkenik objektuak beste objektu batzuekiko kokatu ahal izango ditu.

Oinarrizko higidura isometrikoen artean, objektuen desplazamenduak (plano berean eta norabide zehatz batean egindako lekualdaketak) eta biraketak (plano berean eta ardatz batekiko egindako lekualdaketak) ulertuko ditu azkarren haurrak, simetria (planotik aterata ardatz batekiko egindako lekualdatzea) gehiago kostako zaion bitartean.

Aritmetikan, zenbaketa prozesua ulertzeak denbora eramango dio haurrari, kardinala multzoaren propietatea dela barneratzea, eta berau multzoko elementuen propietate fisikoetatik independentea dela eta bijekzioaren bitartez topatutako baliokidetasuna iraunkorra dela barneratzea kostako zaizkiolako. Haur Hezkuntzaren etaparen amaieran lortuko du.

Magnitudeei dagokienez, gogoratu behar dugu alde batetik magnitude diskretuak ditugula, hau da, konta daitezkeenak (adibidez, kardinala) eta, bestetik, magnitude jarraiak, hau da, neurtzen direnak. Azken hauen artean magnitude geometrikoak (luzera, anplitudea, azalera eta bolumena) eta fisikoak ditugu (pisua, denbora, masa, tenperatura eta abar). Magnitude jarraien neurketan, unitate arbitrario bat erabaki ondoren, beti hiru alderdi dituen prozesua burutu behar da:

1. Alderdi fisikoa: unitatearen kopiak sortu eta bata bestearen jarraian modu egokian jarri.
2. Alderdi logikoa: unitatearen kopiak kokatu ahala norberaren buruari galdetu behar zaio ea iritsi ote garen neurtu nahi genuenaren mugara eta, erantzunaren arabera, unitate gehiago gehitzen jarraitu, ala gelditu.
3. Alderdi aritmetikoa: erabilitako unitateen kopurua kontatu.

Piaget-en esanetan, haurrak sei urterekin barneratzen ditu kardinala, luzera, masa eta edukieraren iraunkortasuna edo kontserbazioa; bederatzi urterekin azalerarena, eta hamabi urteak arte ez da gai bolumena, pisua eta masa haien artean erlazionatzeko. Aurrerapauso horiek esperientziaren bitartez emango ditu, eta horregatik Piaget-ek ondoko ordena proposatzen du kontzeptu horien didaktikarako:

1. Neurketaren beharraz jabetzea. Irakasleak galderak eginez sortuko du kezka hori haurrarengan (kaxa hau kabituko ote da horko armairuan?).
2. Kantitateen arteko konparaketa modu zuzenean egitea (kaxa eskuetan hartu eta armairura eramanda).
3. Konparaketa modu zuzenean egiterik ez bada, bitartekotza gorputz-atal batekin egitea (kaxa oso astuna bada, besoa erabili kaxa eta armairuko zuloa neurtzeko).
4. Bitartekotza edozein objekturekin egitea (arkatz bat erabili kaxa eta armairuaren zuloa neurtzeko).

Hortaz, magnitudeen neurketa konplexutasun handiko prozesua da, Haur Hezkuntzako etaparen barruan hainbat magnituderentzat erabateko ulermenaz osatzen oso zaila izango dena. Bestetik, pisuaren kasuan neurketaren alderdi logikoa burutzen zaila da, pisuaren pertzepzioa nahiko subjektiboa delako, eta horregatik balantzaren beharra dago pisatu nahi den objektua eta erabilitako unitatearen kopiak konparatu ahal izateko. Bolumenari dagokionez, Haur Hezkuntzan edukiera landu ohi da (sakonera baten bolumena), eta ez dira unitateak lantzen. Denbora ulertzeko oso zaila den magnitudea da eta horregatik Haur Hezkuntzan denbora sekuentzien seriatzea landu ohi da. Orokorrean, ez da inolako magnituderen neurketarik egiten aipatutako hiru alderdiak osotasunean burutuz, baizik eta magnitudeekiko seriatzeak landu edo gorputzarekin eta objektuekin bitartekotza aplikatuta neurketak egin.

Beraz, magnitudeen artean argi dago Haur Hezkuntzako etapan neurtzeko modukoak izan daitezkeen nagusiak kardinala, luzera eta edukiera izango direla, eta neurketa egiteko ez direla orokorrean ohiko unitateak erabiliko.

Zientzia Esperimentaletako sekuentzia didaktikoa

Zientzia esperimentalei buruzko ikasgaian egin dugun lan nagusia sekuentzia didaktiko baten diseinua izan da. Hau ere blogetik kanpo jasotako lana izan da, Wix plataforman sortutako webgune batean bildu baitugu, Haizearekin Jolasean izenpean. Webgunea prestatzeko lana nire ardura izan denez, formatuari dagokionean ez naiz konplikatu, eta arte plastikoetako portfolioaren txantiloi bera hartu dut oinarri bezala.

Haizearen inguruan jarduera interesgarriak sortu ditugula iruditzen zait, baina agian, nire ikuspuntutik behintzat, lanaren baliorik handiena metodologiaren atalean landu dugunean dago. Bi ataletan banatu dugu: alde batetik, metodologiari buruzko hainbat azalpen orokor eta, bestetik, metodo zientifikoa jarraituko duten jarduerei buruzkoa. Gainera, pentsamendu matematikoaren ikasgaian landutako kontzeptuak txertatu ditugu, ikuspegia asko aberastu dutenak. Bestetik, zientziako sekuentzia didaktikoa den arren, denetarik jarduerak daude, haizearen gaia bide oso desberdinetatik ulertzeko modukoak, hala nola, antzerkia edo musika. Aurrerantzean oso lagungarri suertatuko zaidala iruditzen zait.

Arte Plastikoen portfolioa

Ikasturte honetan kosta egiten ari zait lana blogerantz bideratzea, eta spin-off mordoxka sortzen ari zaizkit. Horietako bat Arte Plastikoak IIko portfolioa da. Lana blogean egiten hasi banintzen ere, iruditu zitzaidan hau ez zela formaturik egokiena, eta Wix plataforman webgune txiki bat sortu nuen. Bertara eraman nituen hemen ikasgaiaren inguruan idatzitakoak eta horren gainean egin nuen lan.

Hementxe dago emaitza, oraingoz oso pozik utzi nauena. Bigarren lauhileko honetan zehar espero dut portfolioa osatzen jarraituko dugula, irakaslea aldatuko badigute ere.