Abstract:

Constructive social problem solving is a cognitive-behavioral process to develop positive problem orientation and undertake community and societal social problem solving as a conscious, rational, effortful, and purpose- full activity. Problem-based learning (PBL) is an education strategy where the student becomes the main driver of learning and the teacher becomes a facilitator of this learning process. In addition to course content, PBL can promote the development of critical thinking skills, problem-solving abilities, and communication skills. It can also provide opportunities for working in groups, finding and evaluating research materials, and life-long learning. In this methodological option, students solve problems with tutorial guidance and using cooperative learning, achieving success through the completion of personally and professionally significant projects. Self-systems theory and self-determination theory postulate that human beings have three fundamental psychological needs: competence, relatedness, and autonomy. When pre-college students have experiences with high self-system variables, their engagement and motivation are higher. This communication presents the theoretical foundations and describes the operational aspects of the pedagogical initiative carried out in Portugal, in a pre-university context, over a period of eight academic years, showing how these pedagogical initiatives, involving up to now more than 2500 students, between the ages of 15 and 19, have allowed these three needs to be enhanced. In this work, the specificities of the project discipline are described, within the scope of the professional technical course in Commerce, a course with more than a decade of existence, including 30 Short-Term Training Units, in a total of 1100 hours. Specifically, the pedagogical strategies during which students are trying to solve a problem or a set problems unfamiliar to them are systematized. The implementation stages, the achieved objectives and the achieved products are presented. The results of this pedagogical initiative are disseminated through social networks, in addition to the fact that the students involved have been, since the pilot year of the implementation of problem & project-based learning in this educational context, to influence their colleagues in the school space and future students of the institution and entities that are part of the Cátedra UNESCO for Youth, Education and Society network.

Keywords:

Pre-college students, short-term training units, problem & project-based learning.