Project-Based Learning Through the Flipped Classroom Model

Introduction

This work is based on a didactic proposal implementing Project-Based Learning (PBL) through the flipped classroom model to increase student motivation in the ​​Social Sciences. Society continues to advance, and the changes impact all areas, especially education. It is time to adapt to the needs and interests of the current student body, which is not the same as twenty years ago: today, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have reorganized the way we live, communicate, and learn (Juárez-Pulido, 2019).

An author who has extensively written about the idea of “multi-modal literacy” and the way the needs of students emerging into the world have changed is Georgina Barton. According to her, it is important that students can effectively communicate through both oral and written language. They are expected to be able to comprehend and compose multimodal texts in different curriculum areas since the ways in which we communicate with each other in today’s worlds are wide ranging. In her opinion, it is strange that assessment practices in schools remain focused on traditional written texts despite being other modes that can be effectively used to express meaning (images, signs, or gestures).

Educators need to prepare students for the technological context in which they are going to live, and in which the traditional methodology of the model centred on teaching no longer fits, but rather a model that allows students to build their own learning (Hernández & Ventura, 2020). This old style of education is what Freire defined as “banking model of education” in which education becomes an act of depositing. In his essay “The Banking Concept of Education”, Freire devotedly broadens on the mechanical flaw in the current education system and offers an approach that he believes medicates the learning-teaching disorder in the classroom. The flawed conception, Freire explains, is the oppressive “depositing” of information (hence the term banking) by teachers into their students. Freire maintains that by assuming the roles of teachers as depositors and students as receptors, the banking concept thereby changes humans into objects. Humans (as objects) have no autonomy and therefore no ability to rationalize and conceptualize knowledge at a personal level.

The master class model in which the teacher transmits his knowledge has become obsolete for a generation which has been called “digital natives”. The aim of this project is to promote an interactive education that encourages students to communicate and collaborate with each other to develop their critical thinking (Tourón et al., 2014). Further, it is important to highlight the concept of personalized education in which a main objective is to enhance the capacities of each human being and “develop their skills so they are capable of knowing, interpreting and transforming reality, which implies stimulating creativity and imagination to solve the problems posed by the future context” (García, 2011, p. 2).

This change in pedagogical models drove the thematic choice of this proposal, which aims to promote an approach which increases the motivation of 5^th-year Primary Education students and enhances their academic performance. When developing the proposed method, competency-based learning is taken as a reference, which is characterized by its transversality, dynamism, and comprehensive nature (Estriegana et al., 2019). The PBL component seeks comprehensive learning connected to the real-world context of the students, while the flipped classroom model allows students to develop their learning process in class more actively, through cooperation and collaboration.

The proposal started from the following question: Was it feasible to carry out a teaching based on PBL through the flipped classroom model in Primary Education? Several authors have contributed some answers to this problem, such as Parra González et al. (2021), who added that not enough research has been carried out and precise empirical data is not available to affirm PBL as a proven strategy. They have also stated that, based on the evidence gathered in recent years, PBL seems to be an effective model for enhancing academic success and improving student attitudes. Finally, they emphasized that the results were linked to the quality of the project and the level of commitment of the student.