Abstract:

This article's objective was to assess how socio-scientific skills are approached in the laboratory work in agro-industrial specialty classes in a technical high school. The study was conducted from a dominant qualitative approach. The study subjects were six teachers from the area mentioned above of a technical high school in Costa Rica and the entire student population (thirty-two students). In order to compile data, we used a performance record for content analysis, observations, and questionnaires aimed at both teachers and students of the specialty, as well as class observations and interviews with students. The results were analyzed and triangulated descriptively to represent them graphically to facilitate their interpretation. Among the main conclusions, it is indicated that the socio-scientific skills explicitly proposed by the Ministry of Public Education (MEP) are cognitive, attitudinal, and procedural. Likewise, implicitly, it proposes social skills. Regarding the application, it was identified that the social and attitudinal skills (of knowing how to act and be) presented a promising development in laboratory work. In contrast, cognitive and procedural skills (manual and investigative) were shown.

Keywords: skill; laboratory; agribusiness; technical teaching; class; education