Abstract:

Bologna Process and the European Higher Education Area established a methodological change which requires to situate to the students in the center of their learning. We live in the age of over-information, continually bombarded with all the information (and also misinformation) we need to know within reach. Scientific knowledge helps us to position ourselves in the world with a critical eye, and allows us to make decisions with greater autonomy and freedom. However, what we found at literature review is that students decide not to continue their upper studies in the scientific field. Most times, these decisions are based on bad experiences at sciences lessons at school. For the future of humanity and the planet, it is necessary to reverse these trends, because we need a competent citizenship, capable of carrying out the technological and scientific work that is still unknown. The scientific training of teachers becomes a central piece. Educating and empowering students will help create a fairer planet. Teachers in training have to feel positive emotions towards science for enjoying their classes and for the transmission of content of an effective way (Mellado et al., 2014). In general, prospective teachers do not feel confident about science, they consider it useless and difficult to learn (Gargallo & Bargallö, 2011). In this study, we worked following the Project Based Learning methodology, which modifies the roles of the student and the teacher, giving the student a more active and leading role in their learning. The project consisted in the design and elaboration of a hydrop-propulsion rocket (NASA, 2011). This research analyzes the emotional dimension of 19 undergraduate Primary Teachers Degree, enrolled in the subject of Didactics of Matter and Energy (6 ECTS) in the 2019/2020 academic year. The project has been developed in 3 sessions of 3 hours each one. The first session was used to give an overview of the project, to carry out a bibliographical review in order to decide the type of rocket to be built. In the second session, the students built their rockets and started the first launch tests (which they had to collect in an Excel sheet). The last session was used to optimize the variables (angle of rocket launch, volume of water used, ...) and to carry out the competition. The data presented was collected in a questionnaire prepared in Google Form, which consisted of indicating whether or not they had felt and why the following positive emotions: confidence, enthusiasm, fun, joy, satisfaction and surprise, and negative emotions: anxiety, boredom, fear, nervousnes, rejection and worry. Whan we find is an increase of positive emotions after PBL implementation and a decrease of negative emotions. They point out as factors the methodology (because of the novelty, working in groups and having a final objective) and the theme of the activity (the manufacture of the rocket aroused their interest). Authors encourage an adequate scientific education which turns on positive emotions during the preservice teacher education, in order to motivate them to carry out this kind of experiences with their upcoming students.

Keywords:

Higher Education, Project Based Learning, Bologna Process, emotions.