La enseñanza de las ciencias básicas en medicina desde la perspectiva de la justificación epistemológica del currículo

Abstract

A fundamental element in the curricular design is the epistemological one. In some courses of Basic Sciences (Biochemistry and Physiology) in the Medicine career at the University of Costa Rica there is not an evident epistemological coherence between the knowledge that science produces and the one that is assimilated by the student. This would lead to make a curricular evaluation in which professors have an advantageous perspective because they are the ones who know the type student who sign up in the career. When a professor faces questions that challenge the limits between different epistemological positions, he or she is confronted with the dilemma of proposing explanations going from the anthropomorphic to the causal. Although the teaching of Basic Sciences in the career of Medicine of the University of Costa Rica does not seem to be explicitly permeating a clearly defined epistemological rationale, positivist traits can often be noticed, as well as empirical and phenomenological characteristics with deterministic philosophy elements and quantitative methods of evaluation. Given the advantages and disadvantages of different epistemological approaches, it is proposed that a clear definition of the curricular epistemological justification is essential to the Basic Science courses of Medicine and of the career itself.