AUDIO-VISUAL TECHNOLOGIES WITH DIDACTIC CHARACTER FOR THE PRACTICAL TEACHING IN THE AREA OF PHYSIOLOGY

Physiology is a scientific discipline characterized for being experimental and instrumental and as such, it demands a direct contact with the "way of doing the things", that reveals "what" and "how" of the production of the physiological knowledge. The teaching of Physiology, requires methodological tools that should allow the students an approximation adapted to the alive animal and to the complex system of interactions directed to maintain the homeostasis, when the integrity of the animal is kept.

The employment of new technologies, including digital supports multimedia, present pedagogic innovative approaches, since they use a current technology and allow very diverse forms of use. This versatility opens wide possibilities of didactic experimentation and educational innovation in the laboratory, being a useful tool as support and reinforcement that facilitates the practical training of the students. In the process of adjustment of our laboratories of practical teaching to the new audiovisual technologies, It have been made presentations in PowerPoint of the different practices, including digitalization of images, as well as schemes and employment of hypertext for a major comprehension. Moreover, there has been carried out video recording of practices realized in animals life, where different commentaries and questions have been inserted on the practice to facilitate the understanding and to introduce the student in the physiological phenomenon, before it faces the practical assay. So, the student gets a global vision of each practice doing special support in the details of the procedure of accomplishment (material, methodology, instrumental technologies, precautions …).

With this work of innovation in educational methodologies for practical classes there have been generated audiovisual materials that favor and facilitate the active and autonomous learning of the student and help to improve the capacity of comprehension of the oral messages in the practical education of the discipline. In addition, the video recording of the practices in animal life they have helped to reduce the negative impact of the animal experimentation on the environment, reducing considerably the use of alive animals and reagents. These audiovisual materials have served as complement for the accomplishment of the practices on the part of the pupil and in addition they will be used also by the teacher as one more tool at the moment of giving the practical classes.