Innovations in the Development of Critical Thinking and the Teaching of the Nature of Science and Technology: Background and Proposal for Food Engineering Course of Studies

[EN] Abstract This paper presents an analysis of the innovations made in scientific and technological courses of studies about STS education and it presents, as an example, the proposal of a Didactic Unit to teach Nature of Science and Technology and to develop Critical Thinking in Food Engineering students. The proposal is part of an international project on education of the technological and scientific competences and critical thinking by teaching topics related to nature of science and technology, in which different Ibero‑ American countries participate. The implementation methodology of the didactic units is validated, and multiple positive results have already been achieved in different courses. For this particular case, a didactic unit called “A Food Engineer at the Zoo” is proposed for the course of Food Preservation and it is intended to work with the Problem-Based Learning methodology with the aim of developing different generic engineering and critical thinking competences