About the project: an ambitious proposal
The thematic project ‘Study of the Implementation of Curricular Innovations, Pedagogical Strategies and Emerging Technologies for Quality-Equity in Basic Education’ (InCEPTE) focuses on investigating and proposing actions that favour interdisciplinarity and the integration of knowledge in the Basic Education curriculum. To this end, it collaborates with different degree courses, developing, implementing and evaluating new curricular components proposed to undergraduate and postgraduate students. At the same time, courses concentrated at different times of the year allow the inclusion of teachers working in basic education in the group for whom the actions are intended. All initiatives are developed based on the results of the work of the research groups that make up the project. Once implemented, each of the training actions becomes a source of data for new research that will influence future actions. This virtuous cycle of research – product – offer – research is the driving force behind the InCEPTE project.
A holistic framework
To achieve the proposed objectives, the work developed by the thematic project is organised into six areas of research and action:
- Line 1 – Theoretical foundations and evaluation of the implementation of innovative curriculum components in USP degree programmes.
- Line 2 – Pedagogical and intergenerational coexistence.
- Line 3 – Active learning methodologies.
- Line 4 – Prototyping of emerging technologies at PLIC/USP. (Meta-presential co-learning spaces.)
- Line 5 – School curricula and their contemporary challenges.
- Line 6 – Education for assessment and decision-making on civilisational risks.
The origins of the thematic project
The context in which the InCEPTE thematic project arises is the Institute of Advanced Studies at USP (IEA) and the Alfredo Bosi Chair of Basic Education. Created in 2019 with the aim of identifying measures to support policies for the improvement of Brazilian basic education, the Chair is based on the analysis of innovative experiences and actions related to the training and professional development of teachers to fulfil its mission. Thus, in view of contemporary concerns and the pressures they exert on the school curriculum, as well as the growing demand for understanding and implementing interdisciplinarity as a principle, the desire arose to create, within the University of São Paulo, an experimental interdisciplinary degree course in Science. The project received support from the Ministry of Education through public notice 35/21 and was developed in partnership with educational institutions experienced in the implementation and management of undergraduate courses with similar proposals (such as UFABC and UniSantos). This led to the creation of the Interdisciplinary Science Degree Programme (PLIC), whose experimental nature required the simultaneous creation of a long-term, comprehensive and robust monitoring and evaluation system. This led to the FAPESP thematic project ‘Study of the implementation of Curricular Innovations, Pedagogical Strategies and Emerging Technologies for Quality-Equity in Basic Education’. Subsequently, the proposal was reconfigured and transformed into a set of training activities aimed at complementing the work carried out by the different degree courses at the participating institutions, offering students the opportunity to experience and discuss interdisciplinarity, the integration of knowledge and the accompanying pedagogical strategies.
InCEPTE: four essential and interconnected dimensions
The name InCEPTE is an acronym for the words Curricular Innovations, Pedagogical Strategies, Emerging Technologies, which was created later to facilitate communication with the wide range of partners involved in the actions implemented by the project. The acronym also seeks to strengthen the essence of the work developed and its four dimensions: conceptual, curricular, pedagogical, and technological. To address these dimensions, the project’s actions aim to record the design, prototyping, and implementation of the proposals, collecting data to support the evaluation of their efficacy, effectiveness, and (short-term) impact. The colourful and irregular mosaic in the image representing the project evokes the distinct natures of the actors brought together, where the identity of each is preserved and valued to form an integrated, complex and powerful whole.
