Pro(g)Natura, curricular flexibility in an alliance between educational contexts: nature, programming language and classroom

Abstract

The Curricular Autonomy and Flexibility Project (CAFP), presented in Decree-Law No. 55/2018, of 6 July, places in schools and teachers the responsibility for curricular decisions. These decisions represent a new form of organisation of space and time that allow autonomy exercises and student’s participation in the learning environment management.
In order to respond to these new requirements, the Pro(g)Natura (PgN) educational program emerged in 2018 as part of the development of the curriculum flexibility plan. This program combines programming language, with evidence of its potential in the development of curricular learning in a transversal way; the educational environment in nature, with proven benefits, namely with the development of curricular learning and environmental awareness of students.
The purpose of this article is to present the impact of PgN, the development of general, specific and transversal skills, based on the Students Profile leaving compulsory education, in three classes of the 1st Cycle of Basic Education at the end of the academic year 2019/2020, from a group of schools in Coimbra.
The results, related to the perception of teachers from three participating classes on the impact of this program, allow us to understand that PgN will have a positive impact on the development of students’ skills. It is understood that the articulation of the educational environments: nature, Scratch programming language and classroom, as well as the educational practices, enhanced by this program, have been a major factor for the development of students’ skills.