El patrimonio en el contexto escolaranálisis de concepciones como vehículo para el desarrollo profesional docente: experiencia didáctica, "Farmington Junior High y su entorno patrimonial", Utah

Abstract

This study conducted in the city of Farmington, in the State of Utah, highlights the enormous potential that heritage education has in schools. It outlines how a case study based on the students' conceptions of heritage can serve at the same time as a mechanism for professional teacher development. From inside the classroom and guided by the students themselves to the heritage that exists in their own area, it will be possible to discover the complex universe of emotions that this generates, demonstrating that heritage education, as a catalyst for identity, offers to build a fairer and more habitable world in a collaborative way. From this analysis of a group of American high school students' conceptions of the local heritage in their school's proximity, a significant and innovative didactic experience evolves. "Farmington junior High and its heritage environment", will try to overcome the traditional disciplinary, methodological and curricular barriers present in current teaching practice, consequently linking with a series of interdisciplinary and research strategies. In this way, a holistic and integrating view of heritage is presented, which is at the same time complex and critical, with the final intention being to show the existing connections between heritage education, citizenship education and the students' involvement in their socio-cultural environment. On the basis of this work dynamic, which as a planned model of socio-educational knowledge can serve to bring our students closer to their surroundings and create a permanent bond, a deep and extended reflection on the extraordinary ability that heritage has and the teaching of it as a vehicle for personal and professional reflection in the classroom is also proposed, establishing a particular hypothesis of progression linked to the teaching of heritage. This dissertation is structured in three blocks. The first of these sets out the background and theoretical framework of the study, where there is special emphasis on the school and on its relationship with its environment. Starting from an integral concept of heritage, the principles relating to the educating city, citizenship education and learning by investigating can be found. The connection with professional development and the chapter which refers to the analysis and didactic evaluation of existing proposals of the use of heritage in the educational environment, will justify the need to promote educational experiences as presented in this study. The second block centres on the methodological design of the research, including chapters related to the methodological basis (established under a social critical paradigm, a qualitative ethnographic action research case study) and the design of the research, where the problem statement and the study's objectives are included. This section concludes with a description of the geographical and socio-economic context of Farmington Junior High, the stages and the research tools and techniques. Finally, the third block centres on the analysis and discussion of the results, showing the achievements made, and issuing a full research report. At the same time, new scientific questions which highlight the numerous opportunities and scope that this study has are outlined.