A construção de um currículo de project-based learning: o currículo ideal e o currículo formal

The aim of this paper is to present the results, from point of view of the two protagonists, of a curricular reform, which is being implemented in an engineering school, . The main feature of this new curriculum is the use of projects and workshops as complementary activities to be performed by students. These complementary activities will take place beside the work done in the disciplines of the course without an interdisciplinary relationship. The new curriculum is being implemented since February 2015. According to Pacheco (2005) there are two steps, among others, set in the curricular change process, the curriculum "ideal", given by epistemological dimensions, political, economic, ideological, technical, aesthetic, and historical and receiving direct influence of one who idealizes the new curriculum and, the 'formal' curriculum which translates in practice implemented in the school. These are the two steps studied in this research. For it shall be deemed as data sources, two main protagonists of the curricular change, one of them that brought the first ideas about the curriculum and other one, who has been responsible of its implementation. From these participants, it’s trying to understand the motivations, beliefs and perceptions that, in turn, determine the curricular reform. Semi-structured interviews were used as research technique in order to understand the genesis of the proposal and the changes between these two steps. The data shows that changes have taken place from ideation to the formalization of the curriculum, motivated by demands of the implementation process. It also shows differences on curricular point of view and the motivation to break with patterns in the training of engineers in Brazil. Key-words: Project-Based Learning; Curriculum Development, Engineering Education; Managers’ conception.