Production of original knowledge from the development of school content

Abstract

Faced with the coloniality of knowledge, where traditional pedagogical practices of rote memorization of content persist, reducing teachers to mere "implementers," and in Bolivia, more than fourteen years after the implementation of the Socio-Community Productive Educational Model, this research aims to analyze and reflect on the significance of curricular elements and propose pedagogical strategies that encourage the production of self-generated knowledge through the development of school content. This constitutes a fundamental contribution to decolonial and transformative education. The study's methodology adopts an epistemological pluralism approach, utilizing participant observation, peer-to-peer pedagogical dialogue, and a literature review to depart from conventional research methodologies. Among the central categories identified is that while curricular elements such as curriculum planning and evaluation remain at a theoretical level or on paper to comply with the system's bureaucracy, the production of self-generated knowledge has the potential to transform educational practice. Furthermore, the research highlights six specific strategic actions to encourage the production of original knowledge within the framework of school curriculum: development of critical thinking, textual production of content (moving beyond dictation and copying), critical reading comprehension, contextualization of local knowledge, analysis of current events, and problematization of content. These pedagogical actions are applicable at different levels of education: primary, secondary, and higher education; they strengthen the formation of individuals capable of transforming their social reality.