Social skills and critical thinking: the learning portfolio-folder as a pedagogical device in secondary education students

Abstract

In an educational context that demands critical and socially competent students, this research determines how the progressive use of the class folder and its transition into a learning portfolio contributes to the development and strengthening of social skills and critical thinking in secondary education students. From a qualitative approach and under the case study strategy, the research redefines the use of the class folder as a formative instrument throughout an academic year. The study was conducted with third-cycle and tenth-grade students at the CIIE of the UPNFM (Honduras) in the subjects of social studies, civic education, and sociology. The results show that the redefinition of the school folder as a pedagogical device through its continuous use acts as a structuring mediation that articulates academic organization and social skills, particularly in collaborative work dynamics, argumentative communication, and academic co-responsibility. Likewise, a gradual strengthening of critical thinking is observed, expressed in processes of analysis, conceptual hierarchy, logical organization of ideas, and problem solving.