Active learning places students as protagonists of knowledge

In this teaching method, research assumes a central role, and the teacher acts as an advisor to the process

To deal with the challenges of the 21st century, in which technological transformations happen at an exponential speed and knowledge is no longer exclusive to the teacher, schools need to reinvent themselves in order to gain relevance and achieve student engagement.

One of the ways to do this, according to Leticia Lyle, director of Camino Education and pedagogical director of Camino School, is active learning, which can be defined as any teaching method that actively involves students in the learning process. “The methodology foresees that students carry out significant activities and that they reflect on what they are doing”, he says.

This includes, for example, talking, writing, playing, testing, doing or simulating real-world activities in the classroom. These actions translate into dramatizations, case studies, group projects, peer education, creation of solutions such as artifacts, videos, articles, campaigns, debates and demonstrations followed by class discussions. “Research, problem solving and the ability to relate knowledge and information take on a central role and the teacher acts as an advisor and facilitator of these processes”, explains the director. Another important aspect that arises from active learning, according to Lyle, is the most effective work for the development of socioemotional skills and competences, such as critical thinking, collaboration and creativity, as students interact with each other, research and solve problems in groups .

For Leticia, based on Neuroscience and Learning Science, when students play an active and dynamic role in the teaching and learning process and are central agents in the construction of their knowledge, the ability to remember and transfer this knowledge in the long term more easily. But, for that, knowledge needs to be meaningful, applied and transferable.

In order to achieve these goals, she says that the teaching model proposed by Camino Education is based on four pillars: active construction of knowledge, contextualized learning, interactions and technology. "We understand that learning occurs when students build meaning, based on their experiences with the world and sharing knowledge." In this context, educational technologies such as Cloe, the digital platform for active learning developed by Camino, come in to support the student in accessing scientific information and data, allow collaboration, facilitate the planning, construction and testing of models, in addition to providing multiple media and enabling tools for data analysis and use.

Finally, the educator says that understanding learning as this complex phenomenon leads us to question what is the function of the school we want. "We believe that this goes, as the philosopher Edgar Morin said, to learn to be human in this complex and connected world".