Historical Evolution of the Concept of Independent Work

Abstract

This article analyzes the independent work that, in its educational dimension, hasbeen investigated by several authors, making possible to define it in many ways; istraditionally identified with the activity performed by the student to learn independentlywithin or outside the classroom with the teacher’s guidance or not. This paperovercomes this notion and proposes a concept that clarifies the role of the teacher incharge of the direction of the student self-activity. With the theoretical and experiencessystematization defending the student’s active role in learning and developedconcepts on independent study and work, we made a historical periodization. Finally,we propose a suitable concept to university context, that under an approach on process,allows a dynamic teaching and student-centered learning, greater flexibility inthe training process and to break with educational traditionalism.