TO RESEARCH, PRESENT AND DEBATE IN ORDER TO LEARN CRITICAL THINKING

Project summary

The School, as a citizen training institution, is currently facing the challenge of stimulating young people´s interest in study and education. In order to achieve this, it is necessary for teaching professionals to develop new methodological strategies that are better adapted to current context of students’ lives and make them relevant and close to the contents of the educational curricula. This project follows Project Based Learning (PBL) approach which pursues collaborative works proposal in which students play an active role in teaching-learning process and face the task of building knowledge from the research, the search and critical analysis of the required information in order to achieve it. In this way, PBL approach increased their interest and their self-esteem and allows the teachers to develop and incorporate new professional skills. The PBL approach also facilitates the task of introduction of the key competences that current European regulations points out as priority educational objectives. At the same time, it allows us to value non-formal education and overcome the old concept of the school as a place where is presented knowledge in a merely expositive and passive way. According to this theoretical-methodological framework, our project pursues two main goals: 1. Getting our students to develop a critical capacity by analyzing, researching and discussing close problems. 2. To investigate, implement and introduce innovative teaching strategies into the classroom. In addition, we want to enrich both objectives by incorporating European perspective in order for the teachers to exchange strategies and results, beside that the development of awareness of European citizenship in our students, based on respect for diversity and democracy. Therefore, our project includes four thematic axes (Environment and Ecology; Human Rights and Cohabitation; Equality; Food Sovereignty) that summarize, from our point of view, some of the most serious problems that we currently face as European citizens, and with which the new generations will have to continue to deal in the future. The entire project will be organized around these four thematic axes, especially the collaborative work that will be done during four short-term groups of pupils’ exchanges. Throughout the exchanges teachers and students will be able to share the results of their work as well as experience and opinions. In conclusion, they will be able to build critical knowledge and common learning strategies. All the activities will include ICTs as a central element and will be designed according to the PBL approach, trying to achieve not only attractive activities for pupils but also useful for teachers as an operational tool to develop their professional skills. From the beginning we will try to involve as many students, teachers and other collectives that take part of the educative community in both schools. In this way, we will multiply the impact of the results, among which we highlight the following: - develop a critical citizen awareness in our students; - give our students the ability to build knowledge autonomously; - increase their interest in education and training and thus reduce rates of school failure; - strengthen the development and exchange of innovative teaching strategies; - involve the entire educational community in the teaching-learning process and in the life of the school; - recognize the importance of non-formal education; - encourage school collaboration with non-educational organizations; Our previous experience and professional profiles allow us to assert that we will succeed in this ambitious and stimulating task.