Turning sociocultural background difficulties into an educational opportunity

The Chilean university system has programs that accept students with low standardized test scores, leading to inadequate preparation and a higher dropout potential. However, these students may have valuable sociocultural experiences that can be transformed into contextual skills. A teaching/learning methodology was designed and evaluated to address these gaps and motivate students to achieve university-level objectives through "meaningful learning". The methodology involved using quantitative tests and qualitative surveys to identify contextual skills. Strategies were then developed to guide students in applying these skills to classroom problems. The approach was tested in four courses in the Architecture program at Universidad Tecnológica Metropolitana, with a control section and an experimental section for each course. In the experimental section, students with higher levels of contextual skills led small groups with lower levels of development in those skills. The results showed improvements in the average grades of the experimental section compared to the control section in three out of the four courses. Additionally, most students showed significant improvements compared to their scores on standardized tests. This methodology has the potential to enhance the construction of concepts and facilitate "meaningful learning" by leveraging students' previous sociocultural contextual learning for a successful university experience.