Teaching-learning methodologies: use of blended learning in chemistry laboratory

Abstract

For a proper teaching-learning environment in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) it is mandatory to follow an integral educational program that considers the presential and non-presential activities as a whole, in the understanding of the utmost importance of the out of class students’ time. From this point of view, it seems more than appropriate the use of a learning system that combines Internet and digital media with established classroom forms that require the physical co-presence of teacher and students, i.e. the blended learning. In this contribution the authors make a proposal of implementation of virtual technological tools in non-presential activities with the aim of building a blended learning pedagogical framework for the subject “Chemistry”, which is being taught in the first year of the mathematics degree at the University of Alicante (Spain). Two virtual tools were selected for the mentioned purpose: video-tutorials and virtual laboratories. Both were implanted in a complete teaching methodology that, properly integrated with presential lectures, pursues the two main objectives that follow: i) be a solid reinforcement of the concepts developed in class and ii) have enough scientific entity to launch new ideas on the less developed items in the presential lectures.