SCIENTIFIC COMPETENCIES AMONG STUDENTS IN FLEXIBLE METHODOLOGIES AND REGULAR CLASSROOMS: AN ANALYSIS BASED ON CURRENT LEGAL REGULATIONS

Abstract

The present article, the result of an exploratory study, analyzes the levels of development of students enrolled in the Learning Acceleration Program regarding the scientific competency Explanation of Phenomena, based on current legal regulations. The study focuses on programs that use a flexible curriculum methodology for overage students who are outside the formal school system, comparing their level of development in this competency with that of students from regular sixth-grade classrooms in secondary education. For this purpose, a theoretical analysis was conducted on two key categories related to the research problem: scientific competencies and learning acceleration. The study was approached from an interpretive paradigm and a qualitative research perspective, using a diagnostic test as the data collection technique. The results indicate that students participating in the Learning Acceleration Program exhibit lower performance in the area of Natural Sciences regarding the development of scientific competencies compared to students from regular classrooms.