Using small scale projects as tools for changing the teaching paradigm

Abstract

This study provides evidence that pre-service teachers who develop and implement educational projects during their training are more likely to better understand the complexity of the teaching profession. The students-prospective teachers of our sample had to design small scale projects and to apply them in school settings. In addition, they had to perform systematically role playing activities as teachers. After one semester of experimental activities, most of the students diminished their initial tendency to reproduce habits of mind induced by their previous schooling experience and moved from an information and teacher–centered approach to a learner–centered one.