Ensino jurídico: avaliando a aprendizagem a partir de uma experiência de associação teoria/prática.

Abstract

The present work is centered on learning, in a juridical context, and constitutes a qualitative investigation that assessed a teaching methodology, characterized by an association between theory and practice, in a short course on Procedural Penal Law. The teaching experience took place in the Law Course of Fundação Universidade Federal do Rio Grande (FURG), in which the author works as a lecturer in Procedural Penal Law. The investigation was aimed at analyzing the elements that, according to the author, make such methodology effective, examining its impact and offering an opportunity for a discussion and possible reformulations of it. The theoretical basis used was built from specific aspects of Vygotsky´s Socio-Historical Theory - such as the system of concept formation, the mediating role of teachers and imitation as a teaching device - as well as from the studies of post-vygotskians, such as Gordon Wells, who has developed the concept of Inquiring Community. Besides these, the ideas of Boaventura de Sousa Santos about the Paradigmatic Transition in Education and of Donald Schön and Isabel Alarcão on the Reflexive Teacher were also of extreme relevance for this investigation. The evaluation of the course was carried out through observations (field notes) by the teacher/researcher and through evaluations by the students (written questionnaire and group discussion). It allowed the conclusion that the association between theory and practice in Law teaching was beneficial to the students in as much as it generated a greater degree of autonomy and assurance in relation to the practical aspects of the content that has been studied during the course, besides increasing their interest in it and their will to seek new information and new experiences related to it. The evaluation of the experience, suggests, as well, that the students learned a good deal and that their learning process was made more potent by the constitution of an inquiring community in the classroom: students were given incentives to contribute to the discussion and their contributions were valued. The work also illustrates the processes and benefits sprang from the reflexive posture assumed by the teacher.