4. The software Ortografía Divertida: a contribution for the construction of meaningful learning

Abstract

Educational software is a valuable support tool for the teaching and learning processes either virtually or in person. The main objective of this documental research was to study, from a critical perspective, how the educational software entitled “Ortografía divertida” (Spanish for ‘Funny orthography’) helps the student to build meaningful learning. It starts from Ausubel’s claims about the subject as more than a passive information receptor; hence, the subject is seen as one who participates to transform it and gives it a new structure when placing it in interaction with his/her previous knowledge schemata and own personal characteristics. In the performed analysis it is recognized that the aforementioned software promotes  a cultural, emotional and cognitive dialogue among the teacher, the software designer and the student through a group of  contextualized situations where previous knowledge (individual experiences) and  new information provided interact so that the cognitive change takes place in the student (as a synthesis of the process) expressed as a way of assimilation, accommodation or transformation of students’ previous knowledge.