GAVILÁN MODEL: CHARACTERISTICS, STEPS AND EXAMPLES - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The Gavilán model is a four-step system developed to aid academic research and problem solving through a rational approach. It is used mainly in the educational field, but it can be applied to all kinds of situations in which it is required to collect and apply information.

The main purpose of the Gavilán model is to show a practical way in which researchers or students can focus the process of collecting information. In this way, it is a guide for those who need to use reason to solve a certain problem.

It was originally developed by Gabriel "Gavilán" Piedrahita, who used it to teach students to carry out research without the need to "copy and paste" information from the Internet. Since then, its use has spread, due to the analysis it makes of the steps involved in all research.

characteristics

The Gavilán model was developed for its application in classrooms, as a way of teaching students to collect information and carry out tests properly.

Therefore, this endowed it with a series of concrete characteristics that cannot be understood without understanding these antecedents. Here we will see some of the most important.

Designed to work in the classroom

Because the main users of the Gavilán model were to be primary and secondary school students, it is a very simplified model for collecting information. Each of the four steps that compose it are very well structured, so that it is very easy to follow them.

On the other hand, the original model had a series of recommendations and didactic tools designed to teach the teacher how to apply it in class.

Focused on a specific topic

Again, since its main use was to be with children, the Gavilán model focuses on studying specific topics or skills rather than broader ones.

This translates, for example, into the use of activities and very short steps, so that they are easy for young students to follow.

Lack of final reflection

Unlike many other models for collecting and analyzing information, the Gavilán model does not propose a final step in which all the previous ones are analyzed.

This occurs because it was intended as a way to teach students to collect data, not to be used as a scientific research method.

Steps

The Gavilán model is divided into four main steps: defining the problem, searching and evaluating the information, analyzing the information, and synthesizing and using it.

In turn, these four steps have several subdivisions; below we will see a summary of all these.

Step 1: define the problem

Before starting to investigate any topic, it is necessary to ask in an orderly manner what you want to discover or what questions you want to answer.

This is done to prevent students from starting to collect information without thinking about what they already know and what they don't know about a topic.

To achieve this purpose, the Gavilán model includes four substeps:

Ask the initial question

The first thing to do is ask ourselves a question that guides our investigation. What do we want to know or discover? Which question could be more relevant to the topic we want to inquire about?

These initial questions must be complex and include several aspects, in such a way that they give rise to many other questions and a more efficient use of the information collected.

Analyze the question

The question we have chosen, will it help us to better organize the information? What hypothesis could we propose from the initial question? What kind of information do we need to answer it?

Formulate a plan

Once students know exactly what they need to know in order to understand the subject in depth, the next step is to do some initial planning on how to collect all the relevant information. To do this, the most important thing is to decide on which subtopics you need to research.

Ask other questions

In the event that the topic is very broad, it is necessary to ask several questions in addition to the initial one. In this way, students will ensure that they are thorough in their search for information.

Step 2: find and evaluate the information

In the second step, students select and use different tools to collect all the information necessary for their research.

To perform this step correctly it is not only necessary to find information on the subject, but to analyze whether the information is relevant and correct.

The Internet is a great source of data on all kinds of topics, but students should be careful about the sources they choose for their research. The teacher should make sure to teach children to distinguish between trustworthy websites and those that are not so trustworthy.

Step 3: analyze the information

Once all relevant information has been collected from reliable sources, students should be able to analyze it and build a coherent narrative from it.

To do this, the most important thing is that they use their synthesis capacity and that they try to answer both the initial question and the secondary questions.

Step 4: synthesize and use the information

Finally, students should be able to use all the information they have collected to draw a general conclusion and create a concrete product with it.

This product can range from a PowerPoint presentation to a more complex research report.

Example

An example of how a research process would be carried out using the Gavilán model will be briefly presented below. The subject to study would be the influence of sugar on health, with the aim of making a presentation in class in front of the rest of the classmates.

Step 1: ask the initial questions

The initial question would be the following: What impact does sugar have on our health? In order to make the topic more specific, several sub questions could be added, such as:

- Is it healthy to eat a lot of sugar?

- What is the relationship between sugar and being overweight?

Step 2: find and evaluate information

In this second step, it would be necessary to choose reliable sources to collect the necessary information. In this case we could use data from the Ministry of Health, from scientific research published in magazines, from pages related to nutrition, among others.

Step 3: analyze the information

Once enough data on the subject has been collected, the next step would be to analyze it until we are able to build a coherent discourse on the impact of sugar on our health.

To do this, and because it is a complex subject, we would have to be able to understand why some data seem to contradict each other and what the latest scientific research says on the subject.

Step 4: use the information

Once a coherent speech has been created from the information, and since the objective is to make a presentation in the classroom, it would be necessary to make a presentation that is enjoyable and easy to follow.

To do this, one of the best ways is to create a series of slides that collect the most important points that have been discovered on the subject.

References

1. "Gavilán Model" in: Mindomo. Retrieved on: May 15, 2018 from Mindomo: mindomo.com.
2. "Gavilán Model" in: Research Models. Retrieved on: May 15, 2018 from Research Models: modinvest.weebly.com.
3. "Competence to Manage Information (CMI)" in: Eduteka. Retrieved on: May 15, 2018 from Eduteka: eduteka.icesi.edu.co.
4. "Gavilán Model" in: MindMeister. Retrieved on: May 15, 2018 from MindMeister: mindmeister.com.
5. "The Gavilán Model" in: National Institute of Educational Technologies and Teacher Training. Retrieved on: May 15, 2018 from the National Institute of Educational Technologies and Teacher Training: ite.educacion.es.