malasaña
NEIGHBOuRHOOD-BASED LEARNING
“HOW MIGHT THE HIDDEN KNOWLEDGE OF A NEIGHBOURHOOD BECOME A LEARNING RESOURCE?”
CASE
Natural, Social and Cultural Sciences present reality as it appears in daily life: multiple, global and interrelated. During my last year at university I specialized in Natural and Social Science Teaching. One of the courses (Fundamentals of Current Spain) embraced the link of Geography, History and Art History areas as learning sources.
Malasaña (one of Madrid’s most popular neighborhoods) was the focus of the project, becoming the base of a teaching project for elementary school students that studied the past to understand the present by connecting the areas of Natural, Social and Cultural Sciences.
SOLUTION
A collection of playful and experimental activities to facilitate learning Geography and History concepts by discovering a neighbourhood.
CONCEPT
From concrete group walks around the most representative places of the neighbourhood to their abstract representation on a map, the students will go through a collection of activities to approach and understand the relationship to their environment and routines as a first approach to the topic. Consequently, a second stage of activities will use their relatives to connect with the past of the neighbourhood and the events that shaped it as it looks today.
Natural, social and cultural aspects shape and defined our environment. Malasaña neighborhood is configured by the succession of historical events it hosted. The current landscape, is nothing but the result of all the cultural, economical and social relations that have affected (and still do) the daily life of its inhabitants.
Knowing and understanding the environment and network around us is essential in the development of our socialisation and incorporation in the culture we participate in. Teaching the environment, its elements, features and factors based on everyday actions, routes, and places known and frequented by the students is the only way to ensure a meaningful and constructive training for the future of our youngest citizens.
RESEARCH
A first analysis and description of the neighborhood highlighted its most characteristic aspects. Consequently, a deep historical research was conducted to determine the causes that shaped the neighborhood as we know it. The historical development results in the described current social, economic and cultural status of the neighbourhood, affecting aspects such as transportation, population, equipment, housing and economics, among others.
IMPLEMENTATION
The insights and learning outcomes were then translated into a teaching project to be implemented with elementary school students. To this end, a four-week teaching unit was designed using Malasaña as a resource to transmit these concepts while developing the students’ connection with their close environment. Using as a main reference their daily activities ensures not only a better understanding and simulation of the concepts, but also a more conscious use of their everyday spaces.