Primary Students' Empowerment Through Critical Thinking: A Study Case To Transform Their School

Author(s):

Rubèn Pineda(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

03. Curriculum Innovation

Format:

Paper

Session Information

03 SES 12, 21st Century Skills and the Curriculum (Part 2)

Paper Session continued from 03 SES 11

Time:

2016-08-26

09:00-10:30

Room:

NM-A106

Chair:

Majella O'Shea

Contribution

This paper develops research questions and shares the pedagogical aims that serve as the foundation for the author's doctoral dissertation. The study case exposed here is a part of this thesis and belongs to an ongoing matrix project developed throughout the last 5 years: Volume Laboratory.

Volume Laboratory is implemented in an integrated school (students from 3 to 18 years) in Barcelona, which has created an innovative learning environment: an intra-curricular space that, based on trans-disciplinary practices and multi-grade learners (6 to 12 years old), becomes a complement to the formal curriculum that remains still stuck in the fragmentation of learning subjects (Giroux, 1990, 1999). The framework involves over 300 primary school students working in a collaborative space, throughout the entire academic year: every day, three multi-aged groups (6-8; 9-10; 11-12) comprising 18 students each participate in the workshop for six weeks, at which point three other groups become incorporated into the project.

On the basis of the myth of neutrality (Freire & Macedo, 1987), this learning space opposes to a key competences-based curriculum (Hirtt, 2010) due to generate a banking education (Crahay, 2006). Instead of this, this matrix project developed and ongoing implemented by the author seeks to intervene in an innovative educational context to improve students' visual spatial and logical mathematical intelligences (Gardner, 2003), in learning situations that precede student's development (Vygotsky, 1996).

To address this purpose, the workshop is developed as a Project-Based Learning (Hernández, 2000) in a transversal teaching-learning framework where, for example, drawing and applied arts acquire a more valued role in education (Arnheim, 1993) and where mathematics are explained, through experiments and practice, in a contextualized manner (Pineda & Callís, 2014). In the same way other subjects or disciplines as architecture, physics, history, language or artistic culture and some of their main concepts appear because are essential to go forward in the process.

Through the design and implementation of this project, the research aims to: 1) foster a critical awareness of spaces, and how they affect us, how we perceive them, and how we live in them, and, 2) activate a continuous inquiry into liquid pedagogies (Bauman, 2005), invisible learning (Cobo & Moravec, 2011) and innovative learning environments (Istance, 2009), for 3) to explore and contribute to understanding ways in which architectural practice can be used as a tool for promoting trans-disciplinary learning (Muntañola, 2000) as well as to develop critical thinking (Bailin, Case, Coombs, & Daniels, 1999).

The Rosenthal and Jacobson's study (1968) of self-fulfilling prophecy relates the teacher's expectations to students as a key point in their qualifications. In relation with the spaces of a school, the glass-broken prophecy works as the Golem effect (in which low expectations lead to a decrease in performance) so if a place is damaged or neglected, as well we are projecting -from space- low expectations to students.

According to this, The Problem-Based Learning project (Torp & Sage, 1999) designed focuses to solve a daily problem suffered by the primary children -otherwise quite silenced by the community until this moment-, a dirty and neglected part of the school: a set of students' toilets placed in playground terrace. It has consisted on the 10-12 years old children empowerment -becoming change agents- to critically rethink this situation, constructively design a proposal and creatively transform the physical and behavioral reality of their own school.

Method

The project started listening actively the students and planning an uncertain process route but with a clear goal: to solve it. We discussed the problem and brainstormed about its causes while we woke up a collaboratively research's consciousness to overcome the vacuous complaint and the others' fault. In the first year -analyzing and reflection phase- we opened the maximum lines of research as possible: the students explained their experiences and suggested solutions to be discussed, we did polls to the other school students and interviewed the center responsible. We analyzed the overuse of the space making mathematical graphs and statistics about the real and potential use of each students' course and putted it in relation with this space uses' schedule, we revised the toilets historical evolution as well as other renovations in this school's space and so on. Also we examined exhaustively every existing component and made a model in 1/20 scale. We were configuring as an action research group (Carr & Kemmis, 1974) which started a praxis (Marx, 1941; Freire, 2005) from emancipatory positions and empowering acts. One conclusion to change problems detected -e.g., students play there and don't take care, it's an old and neglected space, a lot of its components don't work properly and others- was we had to change ourselves first, from the mode this place was seen to we thought it had to be lived. This carry out us the second year -proposal and action phase- and we made a new renovation model (in 1/10 scale) to show our proposal: adding toilets stuff to make it a warm space, opening some walls to connect it better, modifying some components uses high, painting it following students' design or including a cleaning space -to be used by the same students-. To achieve the goal we realized it wasn't enough proposing a physical renovation; we needed to involve the whole community (teachers, parents, staff) to get their help -also their opinions- and we had to spread a change's culture (Apple, 1982) to transform the students' behavior for maintaining the space kept clean. Finally, the management decided to carry it out. In this third year -spread and consolidation phase- participants are giving talks to other students about the project and we have exhibited it for the rest of the community. Currently, we are defining terms of use and other rules in order to transform the usage awareness.

Expected Outcomes

By sharing the progress and almost final results of this project, the author provides insight into how, empowerment and critical thinking can be introduced in the school as a creative practice that contributes to the development of alternative pedagogies, even more, to change the students' reality and the community attitude. We have concluded there was a problem with the sense of belonging (even ownership) between these students and this place. Behind most of our actions there is to achieve changing it, so if we finally got success it will be for this reason. It has been an unexpected outcome to see how children themselves are self-regulating their behavior and deciding their own rules -also affecting other students- and it will be pretty interesting analyze its acceptance. Throughout the project, an important aspect was that not a few of its 300 participants had a tough attitude within the proposed challenge of changing reality of that space for their own benefit. Their dirty daily perception of this space as an immutable fact could explain it, so this tough attitude could be interpreted as a defensive position to prevent deception about 'nothing is going to change'. It was sometimes hard to handle but finally it became integrated into the process and seen as a complementary source of conclusions (Glaser, 1978): after all and knowing it is going to be a reality because the School Management is pleased with our project and we count on the Parents' Students Association (AMPA) funds to undertake this reform, will it be perhaps the most important learning?

References

Apple, M. W. (1982). Cultural and Economic Reproduction in Education: Essays on Class, Ideology, and the State. Routlede & Kegan Paul: London, Boston & Henley. Arnheim, R. (1993). Consideraciones sobre la educación artística. Barcelona: Paidós. Bailin, S., Case, R., Coombs, J. R., & Daniels, L. B. (1999). Conceptualizing critical thinking. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 31(3), 285-302. Bauman, Z. (2005). Liquid life. Cambridge: Polity press. Carr, W. & Kemmis S. (1974). Teoria crítica de la enseñanza. La investigación-acción en la formación del profesorado. Barcelona: Martínez Roca. Cobo, C. & Moravec, J. W. (2011). Aprendizaje invisible. Hacia una nueva ecología de la educación. Barcelona: Laboratori de Mitjans Interactius. Crahay, M. (2006). Dangers, incertitudes, et incomplétude de la logique de la compétence en éducation. Revue Française de Pédagogie, 154: 97-110. Freire, P. (2005). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum. Freire P. & Macedo, D. (1987). Alfabetización. Lectura de la palabra y lectura de la realidad. Barcelona: Paidós. Gardner, H. (2003). La inteligencia reformulada. Las inteligencias múltiples en el siglo XXI. Barcelona: Paidós. Giroux, H. (1990). Los profesores como intelectuales. Hacia una pedagogía crítica del aprendizaje. Barcelona: Paidós. Giroux, H. (1999). Pedagogía crítica como proyecto de profecía ejemplar: cultura y política en el nuevo milenio. A Imbernón (coord.) La educación en el siglo XXI. Los retos del futuro inmediato. Barcelona: Graó. Glaser, B. (1978). Theoretical sensitivity: Advances in the methodology of grounded theory. Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press. Hernández, F. (2000). Los proyectos de trabajo: la necesidad de nuevas competencias para nuevas formas de racionalidad. Educar, 26: 39-51. Hirtt, N. (2010). La educación en la era de las competencias. Revista Electrónica Interuniversitaria de Formación del Profesorado, 13 (2), 108-114. Istance, D. (2009). Education Today. The OECD Perspective. Paris: OECD Publishing. Marx K. (1941). Theses on Feuerbach. F. Engels (recop.). New York: International publishers. Muntañola T. J. (2000). Topogénesis: fundamentos de una nueva arquitectura. Barcelona: Edicions UPC. Pineda, R. & Callís, J. (2014). (Arquitectura)Matemàtiques=(Matemàtiques)Arquitectura?. Perspectiva Escolar, 378: 41-47. Barcelona: Rosa Sensat. Rosenthal, R., y Jacobson, L. (1968). Pygmalion in the classroom. The Urban Review, Volume 3 (1), 16-20. New York: Springer. Torp, L., & Sage, S. (1999). El Aprendizaje basado en problemas: desde el jardín de infantes hasta el final de la escuela secundaria. Madrid: Amorrortu. Vygotsky, L. S. (1996). El desarrollo de los procesos psicológicos superiores. Barcelona: Crítica.

Author Information

Rubèn Pineda (presenting / submitting)

Barcelona University, Spain

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