TEACHING TOOLS IN BIOLOGY OR THE MIXTURE BETWEEN TRADITION AND INNOVATION

The Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) is aware of the necessary adaptation to the European Espace for Higher Education (EEHE). Because of that, since the year 2000, the UCM approved the creation of some Projects of Educational Innovation (Proyectos de Innovación Educativa, PIE). These projects have given university staff the opportunity to create useful educational material for the new needs of the EEHE. It is known that the Bologna Treaty establishes significant changes regarding traditional teaching. Among them, we can bring out a learning basically based on student-based learning (the personal work of the student) and a transversal concept in the acquiring of knowledge. The question raised is whether if due to this new reality we have to resign to traditional tools. In other words, we ask whether the new teaching tools should completely replace traditional tools. Our group consists of Professors of Biological Sciences and Veterinary of the UCM, ensuring diversity. Since the year 2002, we have been working in different projects to produce innovative tools adapted to the EEHE (1, 2 & 3). The format has always been computing: CD-rom, the virtual seminary room of the UCM, virtual museum of the UCM or an electronic magazine (4, 5 & 6). All this material has been being used since the school year 2003-04 which has allowed us to give an overall evaluation of these new tools individually, and compared to other traditional methods, such as books and class notes (7 & 8).
The conclusion is that they are complementary tools and that new doesn’t substitute traditional. For instance, during the Anatomy of Exotic Animals course, adapted to the EEHE, students use both of them indistinctly. For example, in practical lectures, the booklet with photographs of different species in which they have to find out which is which, comparing the images to the dissections they are carrying out at that moment, is irreplaceable (8). The same thing happens with books (7) that can be used no matter the situation or circumstance without needing a computer and/or Internet. The surveys carried out among students along consecutive school years confirm this assessment.

Acknowledgements:
Authors thank Juncal Fernández-Garayzábal for revision and translation of the text.

References:
1. La innovación educativa como herramienta imprescindible en la implementación del EEES. ISBN-3-9810562-0-5. 2007.
2. EL Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior, la creación de grupos multidisciplinares y la cooperación internacional. Cursos de Verano de El Escorial. 2007.
3. Enseñanza innovadora en Zoología: materiales didácticos. Cursos de Verano de El Escorial. 2007.
4. www.ucm.es/aulavirtual
5.Museos Virtuales de Biología. http://www.ucm.es/centros/webs/fbio/index.php?tp=Servicios&a=servicios&d=2071.php
6. Revista Reduca. www.reduca.org y www.revistareduca.es
7. Atlas de Anatomía de los Animales Exóticos y de Laboratorio. Masson-Salvat. ISBN 978-84-458-1406-2. 2004.
8. Cuadernos Prácticos de Anatomía de los Animales Exóticos. Cursos académicos 2006-07 (ISBN 978-84-690-4311-0), 2007-08 (ISBN 978-84-612-2221-6), 2008-09 (978-84-92539-37-6).