Social thinking in a group of industrial electricity students of SENA Dosquebadas (A case study)

Abstract

The investigative work described in this article was developed with the aim of understanding the development of social thought in a group of 17 students of industrial electricity technology from SENA in the municipality of Dosquebradas (Risaralda) through the application of a didactic unit on citizen participation mechanisms. The application of this unit allowed the researchers to obtain empirical data from their experience in the classroom using different data collection techniques such as video, participant observation, and field journals. The research with a qualitative approach had a case study design aimed at a population of students between the ages of 18 and 34 within a group made up of 16 men and one woman. The data obtained were transcribed to be analyzed, interpreted and coded in three moments (open, axial and selective coding) resulting in that of the 5 cognitive-linguistic skills included in the study as investigative categories, the only one that emerged in the study group of students throughout the different meetings was the description. In the same way, no evidence of the management of the constitutive elements of social complexity was found. These findings lead to the central conclusion of a low development of social thinking in the participating group as a possible consequence of a previous formative process that did not meet the objectives proposed for the teaching of social sciences. All this raises an important question about the need to understand the degree of fulfillment of these objectives in Colombia in terms of training citizens who are aware and critical of their social reality, called today more than ever to implement the changes that are required in the lasting construction of a fairer and more participatory country.