Project Based Learning in the degrees in Pedagogy and Social Education: “How has your city changed?”

Abstract

During the 2010/2011, 2011/2012 and 2012/13 academic years, 20% of the time of work and the qualification of the subject Sociology of Education in Pedagogy and Social Education degrees in the University of the Basque Country has been devoted to Project Based Learning. The aim has been to design, test and evaluate an experience of innovation and educational improvement to work on the competences of the subject with active and participatory methodologies. The students begin to practice exercises of applied sociology and they work on competences that will be important in their professional work as educators: “know to analyze scientifically the social reality”, “write scientific reports”, “oral communication” and “collaborative learning”. The design of the exercise involves the preparation of the Teacher and Student Guides, specifying the contextualization of the project, its objectives, the statement or scenario, the justification, related topics, work foreseen, previous knowledge required, the activities planned, deliverables, resources to be used , systems of evaluation, schedule, etc. In our case, the exercise is based on the following driving question: “What are the education and its social context like and how have they changed in your neighborhood, town, city or region?” The results, using as indicators the notes and the opinions of students are positive: Project Based Learning enables the active participation of students, contact with reality and significant learning for their professional future.