Rutas del canto: aprendizaje basado en proyectos para resignificar el currículo rural mediante el avistamiento de aves.

Abstract

Rural education in Colombia faces a persistent structural tension: standardized curricula that fail to engage with the knowledge, biodiversity, and economic potential of local territories. This paper presents Rutas del Canto, a pedagogical prototype implemented at the Institución Educativa Rural Departamental Nacionalizado Tudela (IERD), located in Paime, Cundinamarca, which integrates Project-Based Learning (PBL) with bird watching as an educational management strategy to resignify the rural curriculum. The prototype articulates four dimensions —environmental, curricular, community-based, and economic— and mainstreams knowledge areas such as natural sciences, English, mathematics, technology, and environmental education, based on the recognition of local biodiversity as a pedagogical axis. Under an interpretive–socio-critical paradigm and a qualitative approach, diagnostic surveys were administered to students, teachers, and the community, along with participant observation records and field logbooks. Preliminary results show transformations in students' territorial perception, increased motivation toward contextualized learning, and the recognition of birdwatching tourism (avitourism) as an alternative for sustainable development. The prototype demonstrates replicability potential in other Colombian rural institutions with local biodiversity, without requiring costly infrastructure, and aligns with Sustainable Development Goals 4 and 15, Law 115 of 1994, Decree 1743 of 1994, and the Special Plan for Rural Education (PEER, 2018).