Chaining mediated by learning based on eco-efficient projects

In Colombia, the majority of universities that train professionals in chemistry prioritize their scientific training in a disconnected way with chemical processes and industrial chemistry, although 78% of chemists practice their profession in the industry, evidencing a high demand in that labor market (Ministry of Education, 2015). In the Eco-efficiency research group of the Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia, an educational innovation was developed for training by competencies of chemists, called chaining towards green chemistry. The chaining was designed in terms of competence unit, based on metacognitive strategies of learning, evaluation and transfer; it was applied in a course of industrial chemistry in eighth semester, with pedagogical mediation of learning based on eco-efficient projects, and undertaken in an action-research (Carr, 1988). It started with 19 generic competences proclaimed in the Alfa Tuning Latin America Project (2005-2013), and 16 specific competences, articulated with the twelve principles of green chemistry, in order to ensure the sustainability of the chemical process (Anastas and Warner, 1998). The purpose of this work was to evaluate the training process by competences under the criterion of authentic evaluation and its results, referring to the relevance and effectiveness of educational innovation, formulated and executed around self-knowledge, self-reflection and self-regulation. The results, validated internally and externally, are evidenced by the semester production of 10-15 eco-efficient products submitted to the entrepreneurial process, with important academic recognition, both academically and in the productive sector.