Meaningful learning : a study on the view of teachers in Higher Education

Abstract

This paper is the result of a research that aimed to analyze the visions of teachers about significant learning in higher education and their mobilization for this purpose. It also sought to identify teachers' views on significant learning; to verify the strategies used by teachers to mobilize significant learning; and to diagnose teachers' difficulties and deliberations in this process. The research consisted of a qualitative approach, with, as methodological procedures, bibliographic study and semi-structured interviews with higher education teachers. The context of the study was a University Center located in the Central Sertão of Ceará, with professors of the psychology course. The analysis was developed through the teachers' perception about the use of active methodologies in higher education, as well as pointing out the difficulties and challenges when working on strategies that value and stimulate the relationship between theory and practice. The research results indicated that the teachers' view on significant learning refers to the concept attributed by Ausubel (1982) regarding the understanding of significant learning, in which they recognize the importance of the interaction of prior knowledge with the knowledge re-elaborated in the daily life of the classroom. The learning is considered significant when it expresses a reflected practice, capable of modifying the student's perception in relation to the systematized and reconstructed knowledge.