Herramienta de aprendizaje activo en las asignaturas de ingenieŕıa estructural

the educational methods that promote active learning are based on the constructivist
theory on learning. According to this theory the students are the core and the protagonists of the
educational process, and they decide when and how to learn. In this process the professor is only
a guide who motivates and gives feedback to the students. With this purpose in the Structural
Engineering courses offered to the students of the civil engineering and architecture
undergraduate programs at the Javeriana University, tools of active learning have been
implemented. These tools have been related, in some cases, with examples of applied research of
the research group Estructuras. In small workgroups students experiment with existing structural
models of the structural lab and with models designed and constructed by themselves. As a
consequence of these activities, the motivation and enthusiasm of the students have increased as
well as the class attendance. Additionally, during the execution of the experiments a constant
interest is observed and the students participate actively and formulate questions related to the
behavior of the structural systems modeled.