Towards an integrated model of the educational system

Learning does not only occur in school space and time. We learn through all our experiences.

The current concept of the educational system can be enriched from contributions and the cooperation of the entire environment: (families, associations, cultural and environmental centers, museums, urban, rural, and natural spaces …) that in a shared and coordinated way contribute to students´ experiences and an experiential connection with the region.

The educational centers could serve as a motor, to guide and lead learning in order to take advantage of the educational potential of the different experiences outside the classroom.

Getting to know the environment through experiencing it, moving through it, living in it and then studying it operationally in order to understand it. School would thus become a laboratory for environmental studies and territorial experiments, through the analysis of problems, of undertaking shared projects in urban natural spaces and seeking solutions to any problems that are identified. School could thus become an institution which is capable of committing itself to helping the community by taking its action outside its walls … “

F. Tonucci

Constructive Learning

Each person must build and go through their own learning process, taking the reality they have grown up in and the interpretation they make of everything that happens to them as a point of reference. They should come up with new ideas about the world, learn to liveand think.

For this reason, the Huerto Alegre Educational Innovation Center´s pedagogical action framework is based on the constructive model. Therefore, its programs and different didactic strategies are designed accordingly.

Make to understand, enjoy to learn

Learning is a process which turns heads and hands into accomplices. Ideas and actions both have their part to play in a common scenario: understanding and acting in the world around us, providing creativity and improvements. All this becomes more significant when it is derived from our real involvement in the facts: observing, asking questions, investigating, elaborating answers and ideas, acting, getting involved, getting excited, being amazed, constructing thought patterns, and modifying the place we live in so as to improve it.

We want the boys, girls, young and old who come to Huerto Alegre to enjoy what they learn and to feel inspired to go further and learn more. Our proposals are intended to promote enthusiasm and that necessary motivation that creates interest in learning and knowing. And to turn it into a fascinating process, full of challenges and adventures.

Environmental education at the heart of our project

Environmental Education is a pedagogical strategy that offers new ways of looking at and understanding the world. It aims to improve people’s relationships with the environment, each other and the universe that exists in each person, in others and in our environment.

“To change things is to review our models and attitudes, our way of understanding reality, it is to create new rules where everything and everyone comes into play.”

Dear Planet. Huerto Alegre. 1994

Through environmental education we approach the understanding of the environment as something that is complex, uncertain and subject to multiple interests and views. Through different didactic proposals we strive to raise awareness about the fragility of the environment and the role that people play in it to favor its balance or not. In addition, proposals and ideas are built to actively contribute to the development of a more sustainable, fair and equitable environment.

A living educational project

A LIVING educational project, supports the didactic proposals. It´s a project in permanent review and construction, made up of a team of professionals from different fields who, through constant evaluation, reflection on and analysis of the work that is carried out. This generates proposals and constant adjustments to the project.