Experimentation-Based Learning for the Development of Scientific Competencies in Students

Abstract

Science education faced the challenge of moving beyond practices centered on content reproduction and demonstrative experiments with limited student intellectual engagement, a situation that restricted the integrated development of scientific competencies. The objective of this study was to analyze the contributions of experimentation-based learning to the development of scientific competencies in students, considering its foundations, pedagogical processes, competencies fostered, implementation conditions, and main limitations identified in the scientific literature. A documentary review was conducted through the consultation and selection of relevant scientific literature, organized in a documentary matrix and analyzed thematically. The development showed that experimentation promoted the formulation of questions and hypotheses, the design of procedures, the analysis of evidence, the explanation of phenomena, argumentation, and scientific communication, especially when teacher mediation and progressive autonomy were present. It was concluded that its educational potential depended mainly on the pedagogical quality of the experiences and on their capacity to turn experimentation into a process of construction, contrast, and communication of scientific knowledge.