Harmonize space, harmonize education. The new challenges of an active education

Abstract

To consider the design of an active teaching and learning process also means attending to the context or scenario in which it develops, that is, understanding the organization and aesthetics of the school space not only as a structure but also as interlocutor of learning. This research, financed by the University of Malaga and an FPU contract (04/17106) granted by the Ministry of Education of Spain, tries to describe the dialogue established between the educational model and the conception of the spaces developed in a unique experience of early childhood education in the C.E.I.P. Frida Kahlo (Malaga). We try to acquaint how the teachers of this centre have attended the different aesthetic factors of the space by transforming classrooms that were initially arranged for traditional and transmissive teaching into classrooms that progressively promote an active, autonomous and creative education. The research is part of the qualitative research, through the case study, covering various data collection techniques such as: the documentation of the physical reality of the learning environments and the performance of teachers in them; the realization of a discussion group with these teachers; and file research. The conclusions offer two perspectives in relation to the aesthetic organization of space: a pedagogical and an architectural one, collecting some open guidelines for future projects, but above all opening a space for reflection for the consideration of spatial aesthetics as part of that set of factors that condition the educational process and, consequently, as part of the responsibilities of any teacher.