Didactic Design in Initial Teacher Education: A Meta-evaluative Study Based on Experiential Learning

The present research analyzes to what degree ‘learning by doing’ approaches are applied in the didactic planning of student teachers. Based on a constructivist-experiential paradigm, the study emphasizes that lesson planning is a reflective and evaluative action which displays pedagogical comprehension. A research-based qualitative documentary method was used to study five lesson plans with two reliable observation instruments. For quantitative scoring, attention was directed to items involving experiential structure and methodological coherence, whereas qualitative analysis identified themes of conceptual triangulation in which activities, resources and evaluation approaches were mutually associated. Results suggest that some lesson plans are well aligned with the experience, reflection, conceptualization, application framework, while others indicate a lack of bridging of theory to practice. Plans that scored highest used integrated themes and cohesive sequencing, while those that scored lowest were minimally evaluated and resource minimally aligned. The research fills important gaps in the literature for providing empirical findings on the implementation of experiential learning in the context of the Latin-American teacher education scene, as well as for discussing observation guides as an indication of meta-evaluation and staff training. This study provides an expandable and thought-provoking structure for enhancing the quality of didactic planning in teacher education, drawing attention to the ethical role of deliberate instructional design in supporting meaningful and effective learning.