Educational Model
In Pequeñ@s Ciudadan@s we integrate the following methodologies: learning by doing, service learning, design thinking, social entrepreneurship and canvas.
Our participants include volunteers, participative citizens, parents, teachers, directors, designers, students, school and municipal authorities. Our primary motor are boys and girls from primary schools that participate in our programs.
As an educative platform, new hearing and proposing devices are developed. These are utilized when children analyze problems they want to change in their classrooms (bullying, group management), school (bathrooms, playground, water fountains), and community support (school mentoring, campaign awareness for health and generosity).
Pequeñ@s Ciudadan@s promotes collaborative work between children, enterprises, social volunteers, educative institutions, and municipal authorities.
In our educative platform, we develop the Pequeñ@s Ciudadan@s programs, which operate throughout ludic and reflective activities in which children are guided to identify problems in school, at home, or in their community, as well as propose new changes. Children learn about the importance of having a legal framework by becoming familiar with values regarding justice, participation, respect, and human dignity. The program is developed throughout projects that consist of a “learning by doing” methodology: to be a citizen I must be informed, participate, and propose.
Socially responsible enterprises participate in the program by motivating and supporting their collaborators in becoming volunteers. Schools participate by granting an hour each week during school hours to impart the Pequeñ@s Ciudadan@s programs. Teachers also support our programs by developing the Pequeñ@s Ciudadan@s activities and by receiving children’s feedback. The children are our main motor, always happy, participative, and interested in the activities. Children’s families also get involved in the activities by receiving an invitation to the program, and since children are instructed to share their Homework Notebook at home, and practice the topics learned at school.
“Learning by doing”, a work strategy in which boys and girls learn about their rights and responsibilities, through:
- Theory
- Practical projects and exercises in which children identify problems in their school and create small changes.
- Reflections
Operational Methodology: The program is taught to boys and girls during 6 sequential sessions of one hour, during school hours. The sessions are taught by professional volunteers and participative citizens who have been capacitated with the required knowledge.
It is expected that each student participate in the program during three consecutive years, beginning in 4th grade. Volunteers are also invited to participate for more than one year.
Activities:
Activation: My Citizen Action Route for Mexico:A fun rally in which children activate and get to know their rights. In this activity, the school’s playground is filled with stands, and each stand represents one of Mexico’s states. This way, children get to learn about their country’s geography and state capitals. In each stand, a volunteer explains a child right and narrates the most relevant information about each state, such as its capital and economic activities.
Each stand has a fun and reflective activity to reinforce children’s knowledge. My Citizen Action Route for Mexico is a collaborative activity and an opportunity to learn about child rights, citizen participation, and Mexico.
Activation: My Rights Passport: A dynamic activity to get to know more about Mexico’s culture, in which children learn the most important traditions in each state. In this activity, children are given a series of clues and are expected to discover what right is being promoted. They receive stickers each time they discover this right, and use the stickers to fill out their Rights Passport.
Parent Session: An hour and a half long session in which parents learn about the concepts their children are taught during the Pequeñ@s Ciudadan@s programs. We share the most critical information regarding Culture of Lawfulness, children rights, and infant participation. We also share our dynamics and reflect upon our role as parents and teachers. We do this through practical strategies on how to maintain harmony at home, in school, and in our community.
Materials:
Each program and activity in Pequeñ@s Ciudadan@s has its own student didactic material and volunteer work manual. The Pequeñ@s Ciudadan@s program has a Student Notebook and a Homework Notebook.