PROJECT-BASED LEARNING IN LATIN AMERICAN EDUCATION: A LITERATURE REVIEW OF FOUNDATIONS, PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICES, AND EMERGING CHALLENGES

Abstract

In Latin America, cultural, technological, and institutional transformations have pressured educational systems to revise their teaching models, especially in the face of persistent problems such as curriculum fragmentation, a low sense of relevance in school learning, and a disconnect between school and context. Within this framework, Project-Based Learning (PBL) has been positioned as an active methodology that seeks to reorganize teaching around authentic problems and meaningful products. However, although regional academic production on PBL has grown in recent years, its findings appear scattered, with heterogeneous emphases and poorly systematized implementation challenges. The purpose of this article is to critically analyze recent scientific production on PBL in Latin American education, identifying conceptual trends, implementation modalities, and emerging challenges. Methodologically, a descriptive-analytical literature review was conducted, with a qualitative-documentary approach, examining 14 publications (2019–2025) retrieved from regional repositories and indexed journals. The analysis was organized around three thematic axes: (1) foundations and conceptualization of PBL, (2) situated pedagogical practices, and (3) tensions, limitations, and obstacles. The findings show that PBL is predominantly understood from constructivist, sociocultural, and competency-based frameworks, but its application is conditioned by teacher training gaps, assessment tensions, school time constraints, and curricular rigidity in different contexts, including rural and post-pandemic settings. It is concluded that PBL maintains pedagogical potential for articulating meaningful learning and curricular integration, but its viability depends on institutional conditions, teacher support, and assessment coherence.