How does UC Education impact educational justice in the country?

In the courtyard of the Faculty of Education and in front of more than 300 students, academics, academics, and administrators of the unit, the discussion took place titled "Investigate, transfer and educate: How does UC Education impact educational justice in the country?". In the instance, three academics responded to the premise by sharing projects that seek to provide evidence to society to improve different educational contexts. The presenters were Cynthia Adlerstein, Cecilia Ramírez and Patricia Guerrero, who presented the projects “MAFA: Modeling of the Physical Learning Environment in pre-school education", “Connecting learning: a game-based teaching methodology” e "Alien invasion"respectively.

The space, moderated by the Dean Alejandro Carrasco and the student representative Lia Oyarzún, was part of the celebration of the Opening of the 2022 Academic Year, where the students who entered in 2020, 2021 and 2022 were welcomed. The appointment was held on March 10 in person, complying with the security measures. sanitary precaution.

MAFA: A transformative learning

The system MAFA (Modeling of the Physical Learning Environment in preschool education), is a project developed by an interdisciplinary team made up of academics from the UC School of Education and the Design school y UC architecture, which seeks to put the physical space as a third educator, allowing boys and girls to transform furniture into different objects to enhance creativity and empowerment.

The UC Education academic, Cynthia Adlerstein, is the one who has led the development of the project and ensured that “When we left 10 years ago, the kindergartens had tables, chairs and shelves, a matter that stopped the movement of the boys and girls, their creativity and thinking. So, the challenge was to make the existing rigidity more flexible, which is why MAFA offers furniture and supports that allow children to assemble different types of objects. We went from being stopped to being in constant motion.”

"We started thinking about the environments, in the gardens, but we have begun to transfer the system to other universities for the training of future teachers," added the academic about the system that will soon reach different classrooms in Latin America thanks to a agreement with the company Efecto Educativo.

autonomy through play

the academic Cecilia Ramirez participated in the instance sharing reflections on the project titled “Connecting learning: a game-based teaching methodology”. “In 2021 we won, through EduLab, a project to work with an educational effect that aimed to work with the theme of autonomy in three pillars (citizenship, heritage and sustainability), through a hybrid game: one part through one platform and the other through all teaching materials," he said.

Work is developed in the communes of Paillaco (Los Ríos Region) and Santiago (Metropolitan Region), together with fifth grade boys and girls. According to the project leader, “the community of Paillaco was very receptive to working together. There it was almost an event to split the work and receive all the material that was sent to them. Also, in her case, the work on the environment and agriculture had a lot of influence, while in the case of Santiago, more gender and sustainability issues related to the city itself had an influence.”

The main objective of the project, explained Ramírez, is for boys and girls to become aware of sustainability, through collaborative work.

Participation and school reinsertion

Finally, the academic Patricia guerrero presented the project "Alien invasion", a game that seeks to facilitate the learning diagnoses of students who are reinserted in the educational system.

“In the NGO Súmate they needed a diagnostic instrument to see at what level the young people who want to go back to school after being away for a long time arrive. And with that idea in mind, we came up with making a board game that would be entertaining and that could be a good way to diagnose the level of learning the students had”, said the academic about the instrument that also seeks for the students to meet to enhance a good school life.

Due to the above, the academic pointed out that the development of the instrument was also developed in collaborative instances between different estates, since “Mental health is only possible if there is collaboration. Within the schools we collaborate from the university, but also with the students through participatory methodologies”.

Relive the Opening of the Academic Year 2022 complete here: