School subjects preferred by highschool students. Challenges in Social Studies

Abstract

In the Basic and Secondary Education Subsystem, Nicaraguan students study a set of subjects grouped into the following curricular areas: mathematics communicative/cultural, citizenship and productivity, natural physical sciences and social sciences, which ensure that children, young people and adolescents are integrally trained to perform in life. This conglomerate of sciences studied at school led to the formulation of this research with the purpose of categorizing which are the students’ favorite subjects, to which they dedicate more time and which they consider more useful. For this purpose, a mixed research methodology was implemented, supported by techniques such as survey and interview, which were validated with the individual aggregate method and later piloted with a group of students outside the study; it should be added that the research sample was composed of 105 students in 7th, 8th and 9th grades of three public high schools in Managua. The results of the field work made it possible to identify the subjects preferred by the students, with Natural Sciences, Mathematics, Foreign Language (English) and Language and Literature standing out. As a consequence, the article takes these results to a focus of discussion and selfreflection, specifically to the teaching staff of the Social Studies area, who are asked to rethink teaching practices, incorporate the study of the emerging context, make visible the usefulness of the contents and rethink the traditional teaching methodology, in order to achieve a revaluation and resignification of the teaching and learning of history and social sciences in the school of the 21st century.