Escribir para aprender: ensayo de una alternativa en la enseñanza universitaria de las ciencias

Many professors of scientific disciplines are unsatisfied by a teaching strategy which consists mainly of formal lectures and laboratory exercises. We describe in this paper the implementation of a possible alternative based on the principles of the educational approach termed «Writing to Learn». This is a preliminary essay applied to a full -year course on "Chordates" in the Biological Sciences Degree from the University of Málaga. The students employ a «journal notebook)) in which they record various writing exercises and an ongoing written dialogue about the course material. The objective is using writing as a tool to help students master a subject matter, developing analysis and synthesis skills as well as making students more active participants in the learning process.