Abstract:

When a new dregee is programmed, one of the main targets, besides teaching the specific knowledge of each subject, is the development of generic or transversal skills. Organization and planning, oral and written communication, foreign language learning, cooperative work, critical thinking, students’ adaptation to a new situation, creativity and leadership, are skills very important in the global education of students. However, many of them are not properly developed due to the huge number of students that usually attend classes. In most of the subjects, lectures focus on the specific skills, being the main objective the transmission of the topics included in the program in a framework that also, at best, allows working the above-mentioned skills.

In the Chemistry Degree in the University of Burgos there are many elective subjects that students can choose. The reduced number of students attending this kind of subjects allows using innovative methodologies in order to work generic and transversal skills. In this way, some elective subjects have been linked to the research activity developed by the lecturers involved in these matters. The electrochemical field has been chosen as the research area for this experience. Students have the opportunity to carry out a brief research work, which can be presented in an international meeting or even published in an international journal depending on the successful results obtained.

Summarizing, this work describes the experience of the practical use of the scientific method in subjects of the 2nd cycle of the Chemistry Degree in the University of Burgos.

Authors would like to acknowledge funding via University of Burgos (Resolución. 22/02/10 del Vicerectorado de Profesorado). M.A. Alonso-Lomillo is funded by a Ramón y Cajal fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

Keywords:

Generic and transversal skills, academic research.