INTEREST CENTERS AS AN ARTICULATING AXIS: EMPOWERING LIFE SKILLS AND COMPREHENSIVE DEVELOPMENT IN PRIMARY EDUCATION

Abstract

This review article examines the pedagogical strategy of Centers of Interest (CoI) as a fundamental articulating axis to enhance life skills and foster holistic education in the context of primary education. It traces the origin of this methodology to the New School movement of Ovide Decroly, highlighting its foundational principles of child-centered learning, globalized perception, and the observation-association-expression cycle. The article synthesizes how Centers of Interest facilitate a deep curricular integration across various areas of knowledge, transcending traditional fragmented instruction. The empirical evidence demonstrating its impact on cognitive, socio-emotional, and ethical development is analyzed, underscoring its role in cultivating critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, collaboration, and self-regulation. The challenges in implementation, such as teacher training and resource limitations, are discussed, along with effective strategies and best practices. Finally, the review identifies critical gaps in current research to further understand and optimize the application of Centers of Interest in contemporary primary education. The synthesis of information was carried out through a narrative and thematic approach. The extracted data were organized and grouped according to emerging themes, which allowed for the identification of patterns, trends, key arguments, evidence, and theoretical perspectives present in the literature. This process involved a detailed reading of the full texts, the grouping of similar concepts, the construction of thematic categories, and the integration of findings to achieve a comprehensive view of the studied phenomenon.