Pedagogy students built “dream school” through design thinking
Professor Dr Bettina Steren dos Santos, of the School of Humanities’ Graduate Program in Education, represented PUCRS at the 3rd International Congress of Student Engagement in School: Perspectives of Psychology and Education (CIEAE), from Jul 15 – 17, at the Institute of Education of the Universidade de Lisboa. Santos presented the findings of an investigation on student involvement in higher education and the potential of active methodologies to transform the classroom into meaningful and creative learning spaces.
In this perspective, Pedagogy students built “a dream school” where they would like to teach once they finish their degree. The activity was completed in a specific semester as students were required to employ the Design Thinking methodology, in their classes using both formal and informal techniques. At the end, the students answered a questionnaire. “All research participants reported that active methodologies can maximize the teaching and learning processes. Because transforming education is such a complex undertaking, it requires that all participants in the educational context take on a different attitude in relation to culture,” Bettina says.
The way Bettina sees it, the principles advocated by active methodologies conceive teaching and processes as processes resulting from student involvement, authorship, and protagonism. In this perspective, teachers will commit themselves to mediate classes and challenge students in view of the curriculum and real needs. In this way, the spaces for dialog and collaboration are maximized.
