If we were taught to read the street in another way, most likely, we would be different citizens,
we would know how to value squares and cities from a different point of view.
Jaume Martinez Bonafé

 

This weekend, we had our 7th Art and Nature exhibition, in a public and recognized space in the city of Niterói. We occupy the museum with works made by babies and children from kindergarten and fundamental education.

There is a reason why every year we provide this moment – ​​so special – for the families and children at our school. Exhibiting children’s productions in an institution socially recognized as a space that acquires, conserves, investigates, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity affirms Infanzia’s commitment to the formation of critical, participative and cohabiting citizens of the city.

When children enter the museum and realize that what they do at school has value, to be presented to ALL of society – and not just their parents and teachers – they become aware of their capacity for creation, formulation, production. He sees himself as powerful and belonging to the city he inhabits.

Occupying the city and its institutions is a childhood right and is part of our pedagogical proposal. There is a curriculum outside the school, which can be built from different experiences and cultural practices, taking into account the many ways of understanding and experiencing the world.

There is a cultural practice that generates meanings, forms of subjectivation and ways of understanding the world and of understanding oneself in it that have to do with the experiences lived in the city. For this reason, throughout the school year, we schedule tours in historical and cultural places. In addition to the children exhibiting their work, they also visit places that provoke investigations, research and experiences.

Articulating children’s experiences and what they know with the knowledge that forms part of the cultural, artistic, scientific and technological heritage implies having, as inspiration and structuring point, everyday situations in which children participate.

Under the mediation of the teachers and from the interactions that are established with different subjects, excursions to public spaces become sources for the construction of plural and collective meanings for children’s experiences. Therefore, points of dialogue and intersection between children’s knowledge and experiences with objects of socially constructed knowledge are assumed.

Knowing and exploring the experiences that children bring from spaces that are familiar to them and expanding their experiences in relation to public spaces become structuring elements of Infanzia’s curriculum. It is in this context that children are integrated into the world and culture in which they participate.

Ensuring that children construct meanings about themselves, others and the social and natural world suggests an educational practice capable of going beyond school walls. Extending children’s experiences, their everyday experiences, intertwining them with the knowledge that is part of the cultural heritage of humanity requires ensuring them the right to the city with all its heterogeneity and diversity.