The integrative project as a formative experience in students and professors from the Universidad Intercultural de Chiapas

Abstract

Content fragmentation is a latent concern in educational debates, giving rise to didactic proposals such as the integrative project. It has been instrumented as a pedagogical device in the training of students at the Intercultural University of Chiapas (Mexico), ensuring the articulated learning of the contents. Based on the ethnographic approach, this article analyzes the experience of students and teachers attending the course “Connecting with Community” part of the Teaching Training Program in Language and Culture, reflecting on the impact of the integrative project on students. The results of the participant observation and interviews allowed the acceptance of the integrative project, and the problems associated to the role of companion by the teaching staff to be identified. The main conclusion is that the inclusion of the integrative project represents pedagogical challenges that reveal structural problems for the construction of intercultural educational competences reflected in classroom work, teacher training and perceptions about students' previous knowledge.

Keywords

• intercultural education
• curriculum research
• teaching method
• indigenous population
• integrative project