El Planeta Es La Escuela Workshops

As part of a series of activities happening under the project ‘El Planeta Es La Escuela’ and the Social Justice Repair Kit (SJRK) project, Karisma Foundation organised a gathering that took place on - at Platohedro in Medellín, Colombia. Members of the Floe team joined rural students from the agricultural region of Fresno and women from Motivando a la Gyal for a series of workshops, storytelling and knowledge sharing. During the workshops participants explored ideas of inclusion and diversity using activities such as collaborative art making as a starting point for both individual and group storytelling.

The event enabled the development and refinement of several Inclusive Design activities that will be added to the Inclusive Design Guide in the coming months. Participants tried the storytelling tool being developed by the Floe and SJRK projects and the results from this hands on experience will directly influence the development of the tool.

A highlight of the event was the knowledge sharing that took place between all participants. The Platohedro collective has been very active in community garden creation and was able to share their expertise with the group while everyone learned much about agriculture and food production from the rural students. In turn the students gained new insight into ideas around gender and sexual identity through a workshop hosted by members of Motivando a la Gyal. The Floe project representatives introduced inclusive design ideas and methods as well as Open Educational Resources such as PhET simulations which will now be made available to the students at their rural schools.

Collaborative Art Activity in Medellin, Colombia
Figure 1. Collaborative Art Activity in Medellin, Colombia

An image showing a several students constructing a small sculpture made of toys on a table top.