AN EXAMPLE I WOULD LOVE TO SHARE
The other day, I listened to a chapter of the podcast “Participantes para un delirio” (“Participants for a delirium”) by the artist Coco Dávez, in which her interviewee, Ana Enrich, told an anecdote about a Change Makers project they developed via the Ashoka Foundation with the social entrepreneur Charo Batlle, who has set up in Spain the learning and service network. This educational methodology designs solutions, with children, for the problems they see in their environment and teaches them how they can take responsibly by making their contribution.
THE ANECDOTE IS AS FOLLOWS: At a school in the town of Esplugas de Llobregat, they asked the boys and girls about their concerns, quite a serious question for the innocence that permeates an infant class.
However, from this meeting of wise little people, the solid conclusion was reached that the parks were dirty.
This case was developed through a process of Design Thinking via which the teacher guided them and encouraged them to seek solutions to improve their park, coming to the conclusion that the parks were dirty because they could not reach the rubbish bins.
INCREDIBLE that five-year-old children assume that they are part of the problem, but even more incredible, it seems to me, is our capacity as human beings to commit ourselves to those things that allow us to be participants.
The boys and girls prototyped a step for the lower part of the bins and, with this model, the teacher organized a meeting to go with her pupils to present it to the mayor of Esplugas.