Active Teaching Methodology Peer Instruction

an analysis based on Vygotsky's perspective

Abstract

The theoretical-methodological contributions found in Vygotsky’s works and studies to education and teaching practice have fomented, among others, the implementation of active teaching methodologies in school education. These methodologies, differently from the traditional teaching methodologies, seek to place the student at the center of the educational process and make the learning-teaching process more meaningful for them. The present article aimed to analyze the role developed by school education in the process of formation of the student under the “vygotskyan” optic, and present an analysis of the active teaching methodology Peer Instruction (PI), highlighting its main characteristics and potential contributions given to teacher’s practices. The main aspects and characteristics of the PI methodology were analyzed under the “vygotskyan” perspective, highlighting the way in which they discourse with the theory of development and learning related to the concepts of Semiotic Mediation and of the Zone of Proximal or Potential Development proposed by Vygotsky. This analysis corroborates the PI methodology, acknowledging that it possesses a theoretical-methodological groundwork aligned with the precepts based in Vygotsky’s theories for the development and learning processes. This analysis demonstrates that the referred methodology has potential in the promotion of social interaction amongst students, in the centralization of the student in the learning-teaching process, and in the stimulus of self-studying habits and problem solving. Therefore, this analysis demonstrates that the PI methodology can bring relevant contributions to teaching practices when implemented in classrooms.