The Future of Education

The present work describes the curricular learning process, through the realization of cooperative projects, by two mixed groups (in terms of schooling level) of a private sector elementary school associated with the Movimento da Escola Moderna. The project guided research is comprised of a set of interdependent phases: (i) the definition of the study subject, where the students register the questions to be answered; (ii) Research and information processing based on different information sources (iii) final product preparation (iv) presentation, not only for the other group, but also for kindergarten groups present at the same institution, fostering a generational exchange, enriching the acquired knowledge. After the presentation, everybody is asked to give feedback to the final product and to the process that leads to it. It's through this presentations that the co-construction of knowledge occurs. In this way we stimulate perspectives and invite to thinking in collectively, starting from different viewpoints. Our classrooms projects tend to grow naturally helped by the fact that they are present from the initial levels of schooling at the institution. Students pick the theme of the projects they want to work on, emerging from their curiosities or from the relation with the curricular materials of the several areas of study. The present work describes the advantages of working via cooperative projects: autonomy in the search for information, decision power on the choice of what to communicate to others and tools that facilitate this communication. Following the project presentation, a group systematization of the theme/subject is done. If the project is related to the curricular themes, a summary is written and delivered to each student, regardless of the level of schooling or of having participated in the project development. Exercises of validation and practice are proposed to the students, for them to do when they feel prepared. Learning through projects gives meaning to it that traditional methods don't, by fostering a cooperative, meaningful, dialogic learning process.

Keywords: Co-construction of knowledge, Work by away of cooperative projects, Meaningful learning;