Abstract:

One of the current challenges of education lies in the promotion of skills in young people to face new needs and emerging problems. The abilities for the 21st century are the skills required to function in today's world, in everything contingent, in the study and in employment. Within these skills, collaborative work emerges as one of the most fundamental skills due to the ability to solve problems that we will face in the information and knowledge society.

Through a pilot project, researchers from the Ramon Llull University (Spain) conducted a university-school partnership experience to promote collaborative work. The emphasis was on the learning process of all the educational agents involved: university professors, school teachers, students and pre-service teachers; as well as diverse processes of relationship, work and learning between them. With the collaboration of the Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción (Chile) the phases of the EdiCOM model were validated in schools in two ways: from a theoretical point of view (in 2017 5 schools participated); and in an empirical way (in 2018 2 schools participated). Based on the association of an Initial Teacher Training program and public schools the objective of this research is to analyze the impact of the EdiCOM model and its phases in the collaborative work activities promoted by pre-service teachers and primary students.

59 primary students on 6th and 7th grade from Talcahuano and Chillán participated in the Bio Bio Region. They visited the Faculty of Education for the experiment, but also other buildings with the idea to live the experience as a graduate student for one day. 59 graduate students were the hosts at the university and worked collaboratively in dyads with primary students. The assignment was to write an informative report and to develop it by incorporating an ICT resource.

Based on a quantitative perspective, a non-experimental and transactional design with post-test was applied. The instrument for data collection was a rubric designed by pre-service teachers to evaluate what was created by participants to complement learning in an interactive and meaningful way.

Through descriptive statistics, quantitative data analysis was applied. Main results reflect that primary students can manage curricular content to create and publish informative reports using digital tools. They also can perform the activities collaboratively demonstrating respect for the ideas of the other, showing commitment to the quality of work, and supporting each other. Graduate students showed a high level of motivation and participation.

Keywords:

Collaborative work, Primary Students, Pre-service teachers, 21st-century skills, EDICOM model