Innovative strategy for teaching and learning active methodologies in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

Introduction: In early childhood teacher training, traditional practices persist that make it difficult to teach and learn active methodologies and integrate formative research. The study presents an innovative strategy to overcome these difficulties, connecting teaching, research, and engagement with society. Materials and methods: A qualitative-quantitative approach was used. Needs were diagnosed through the analysis of the syllabus for the course Active Methodologies for Learning in Early Education, interviews with 9 teachers (three from the course and six from Basic Education), and a sample of 12 students from a group of 48, located in six practice centers. A 1-to-7 achievement scale was used to assess the perception of performance before and after implementing the strategy. Results: A flexible five-stage strategy was designed: I) Diagnosis of difficulties; II) Establishing relationships between teaching, formative research, and outreach; III) Clarification of essential content and its integration; IV) Adjustments and enrichment of the preparation-orientation-development-evaluation cycle; and V) Recording and sharing of innovative experiences. The subsequent assessment showed a substantial increase in the achievement level: the average difference was 4.44 points according to teachers and 4.41 according to students, moving from a baseline range of 1-3 to another of 5-7. Discussion: The agreement in the evaluation by teachers and students gives strength to the findings and confirms that the strategy effectively operationalizes formative research as a way to learn active methodologies. The stage of systematizing experiences fills a relevant gap by turning the future teacher into a producer of contextualized knowledge. The main limitation is the perceptual nature of the measurement; future research should assess actual classroom performance and the impact on children's learning. Conclusions: The strategy coherently links training processes and promotes a reflective and research-oriented teaching profile. Perceptual results are encouraging, but validation with performance evidence and longitudinal studies is needed to confirm the transfer of the inquiry habit to professional practice.