PERSPECTIVA DOCENTE DE LAS COMPETENCIAS ESPECÍFICAS EN QUÍMICA

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to evaluate Chemistry-specific competencies that faculty consider most important and useful in their professional practice. To conduct our survey, a questionnaire was distributed to 111 Faculty members from the Chemical Biology Sciences Department during the 2013-1 semester. The instrument was developed using the 21 specific competencies contained in the Latin American Tuning Project related to Chemistry and was evaluated using the Likert scale. The reliability of the questionnaire was 0.941 based on the alpha coefficient of Cronbach, whereas the correlation for the first and second halves were of 0.898 and 0.897, respectively, based on the Spearman-Brown coefficient, using SPSS 19. The results highlighted a strong preference by faculty members for a combined practical and academic experience in preparation for the workforce. The main specific competencies were the understanding of fundamental concepts, principles and theories of Chemistry (1), interpretation and evaluation of data drawn from theoretical observation and measurements (2), and a skillset to develop, utilize, and apply analytical techniques (3).