Taking the Leap from Myth to Logos in Geography and History classes with Seventh-grade Students from Ventura Rodríguez Secondary School

Abstract

The main idea of this paper was triggered by a pattern observed in middle and high school students among different subjects, during an internship at Arquitecto Ventura Rodríguez secondary school in Boadilla del Monte, Madrid. The internship was part of the training as a student of the MA program in Teacher Training for Secondary Education, which took place at Universidad Europea. Therefore, the research that we present corresponds to the final project, which was successfully presented in June 2019. We noticed that, although students tend to show a terribly passive attitude in general, whenever they participate in class they usually refer to videos they have seen on the Internet, commonly in direct contradiction with the contents presented by the teacher. This pattern shows us mainly two facts; on one hand, a serious lack of critical thinking capacity, on the other a lengthy and uncontrolled daily exposure to the Internet. The former is inherent to the evolutive phase the teenagers are going through, the latter defines a new way in which individuals relate to each other in society, and to reality in general. But those two facts mixed together reveal a really dangerous combination. The aim of this study is to stimulate the students to take a leap from myth to logos, the same way the ancient Greeks did, from the irrational belief to the reasoned word (λóγος), so they start to critically analyze information. For the fulfillment of this paper, we have taken two seventh-grade groups (one as a target group, the other as control) and the main action was taken at the geography and history classes, specifically during the ancient Greece lecture (six sessions).