Co-creation project for the renaturalization of the Mar Mediterraneo school in Almeria (Spain)
Sueño Mediterráneo Nuestro Patio is a participatory project of the Educational Community of CEIP Mar Mediterráneo for the renaturalisation of its playground, turning it into a natural, co-educational, inclusive and learning space.
It is a co-creation project to create a sustainable school, where students are agents of change, promoting biodiversity through a physical transformation of the space, and a real pedagogical transformation through active methodologies and learning through nature.
Local
Spain
Andalucia/Almeria
Mainly urban
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
Yes
As a representative of an organization, in partnership with other organisations
Name of the organisation(s): CEIP Mar Mediterraneo Type of organisation: Other public institution First name of representative: Isabel Last name of representative: Ferre Gender: Female Nationality: Spain Function: School Director Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: C/ José Morales Abad, 7 Town: Almería Postal code: 04007 Country: Spain Direct Tel:+34 660 48 05 26 E-mail:04005326.edu@juntadeandalucia.es Website:https://sites.google.com/marmediterraneo.org/ceip/inicio
Name of the organisation(s): AMPA Saponaria Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Mónica Last name of representative: Ramírez Gender: Female Nationality: Spain Function: Secretariat Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: C/ José Morales Abad, 7 Town: Almería Postal code: 04007 Country: Spain Direct Tel:+34 667 59 58 68 E-mail:ampamarmediterraneo@gmail.com Website:http://marmediterraneoalmeria.blogspot.com/
Sueño Mediterráneo, Nuestro Patio is a project for the renaturalization of a schoolyard, with the intention of providing spaces where students can connect with nature and receive outdoor education. Likewise, these spaces will bring together students from across the school during recess time, promoting gender equity and inclusivity according to students' needs.
The idea of creating new spaces that promote diversity, as well as contact with and education through nature arose from the realization that at our school, the grey-colour of cement dominates over greens of natural space. In addition the existing schoolyard propagates gender inequality by attracting more boys to the central areas containing football fields and often relegating girls to peripheral spaces.
The basic principles of the project are: sustainability, participation, equity and inclusion. The educational community (students, teachers, families, institutions, collaborators, etc.) has initiated a transformation process that has been divided into several phases and is still in progress, with the intention of introducing more green spaces and providing more alternative uses for the spaces that already exist.
The renaturalization also aims to increase the biodiversity of these spaces by including species of flora that attract insects, building insect hotels and encouraging the presence of birds by introducing nest houses. In addition, this project has reinvigorated the school with active and widespread participation of all community members. This collaboration has resulted in not only a physical change, but a real pedagogical transformation, emphasizing "Outdoor and Nature Education" based on active and innovative methodologies where experimentation, meaningful learning, respect for the learning processes, and holistic education for every child in a natural space carry great weight.
inclusion
biodiversity
learning
community
transformation
a) Renaturalize the concrete ground of the schoolyard, recovering inaccessible areas of the school, to subsequently create soil and support a green screen. Of the proposed area, only 40% of the total has currently been restored, naturalizing three concrete areas and creating a school garden.
b) Promote biodiversity in an urban area. Our school is located in an urban area, surrounded by buildings. This project aims to create biodiversity through different procedures: planting floral species, installing nesting boxes for different birds (especially swifts and common planes), creating and installing hotels for insects and transforming a green area into a butterfly farm.
c) Strengthening the fight against climate change. A wetland ecosystem has been created to take advantage of the gray water from the students restrooms. The aim is to create an area with flora native to these habitats and use the surplus water to irrigate one of the renaturalized areas. All watering of the plants is based on drip irrigation, a water-saving system.
d) Promote the use of sustainable, local and natural materials. Throughout this transformation we have used sustainable, reused, natural and ecological materials. No chemical fertilizers are used in the garden; we make compost with the plant remains from pruning and sowing. In addition, in collaboration with local companies, we carry out a biological control of the crops.
At present, all playgrounds in schools in the area are predominantly made of concrete. We believe that schools should be greener and more environmentally sustainable. We have conducted a census of terrestrial and flying arthropods. Between the first sample (2021) and the second (2022), we have noticed a significant increase in both species and individuals captured. Also, we have participated in several AmbioBlizt "Biodiversity Marathons" in collaboration with the University of Almeria. This has allowed us to expand our resources related to environmental education.
In terms of aesthetics, we seek spaces that reconnect us with nature, applying a design that favors our well-being through healthier, more livable and sustainable environments. In addition, we have learned that the aesthetics of the renaturalization is essential for students' development, promoting creativity and expression.
Therefore, the transformation of our playground goes through a renaturalization of the space by integrating different natural elements, with the aim of improving the health and well-being of the entire educational community, by creating ecosystems and natural landscapes, a visual connection with nature, or sensory stimulation through contact with natural elements. In addition, we have also taken into account construction materials such as wood, bamboo, reeds, ropes, stone, earth and plants.
It is worth noting the architectural harmony present in each of the courtyard spaces, making them more functional and aesthetic spaces as a whole. A renaturalized environment distributed across different paths and routes that invite a diversity of activities and provide opportunities for free and open-air play.
On the other hand, the participation of the entire educational community in this process has allowed us to establish new forms of cooperation with families, an enriching process for everyone involved. In this way, we have not only transformed our school into a more democratic and efficient place that responds to the needs of our students, but we have also created a space to share experiences and knowledge, with everyone doing their best and living in community. Through the community workdays, families, teachers and students have worked and enjoyed dreaming of a better school. These days are a boost and motivation to integrate and more actively take part in the life of the school. Stakeholders feel that they are part of something very important for their personal growth and beyond.
a) To build a space for everyone, designing and creating a space that incorporates elements that guarantee accessibility and inclusion.
b) Contribute to overcoming gender inequalities, offering and favoring a space and play that promotes coeducation among students, creating a pleasant space that ensures cooperative behaviors and that, ultimately, promotes a culture of peace and solidarity among all people who are part of the educational community.
c) To build an outdoor classroom, adapting the orchard area by removing architectural barriers to make it accessible to students with reduced mobility, by means of walkways, while creating a space for outdoor learning.
d) Create new spaces to meet the needs of students with autism through signage associated with each corner with different languages, quiet areas, manipulative areas, an area of land, free play with natural elements .....
From the beginning of the project, an analysis of the playground was made taking into account the technical aspects of accessibility, as well as the relationships between students in order to achieve an inclusive space, where all students can choose what they want to play freely without barriers to access any type of activity based on Universal Design.
A school garden has been created, which serves to teach about aspects of natural life, as well as values associated with the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, and an amphitheater has been built with a special wide slide.
In addition, the participation of all students in the different phases of the project by carrying out different activities and collecting their designs in the class delegates meetings. This has been very important in order to design and build the different spaces in an inclusive, participatory and democratic way.
This project has included the participation of the entire educational community. Networking has been one of the fundamental keys, since it has been created as a participatory process involving the entire educational community: students, teachers, management team, families, parents' association, associations, companies, as well as other external stakeholders who have joined in this transformation.
The organization is formed by:
1) Motor group: formed by the Management Team, teachers, families and parents' association, who are in charge of coordinating each part of the process, as well as decision making.
2) Work commissions formed by people from the driving group and participants specialized in some function: (C. Environment, C. Technical, C. Awareness, C. Communication, C. Financing and C. Evaluation).
3) Participating group: made up of teachers, families, members of parents' associations, non-teaching staff and other community agents.
4) Collaborations with organizations, public administrations, associations and local companies, as well as with the City Council, University and Teachers' Center of Almeria. We also highlight the collaboration with the Basic Vocational Training cycle of Carpentry and Furniture of the Secondary School "Alhamilla", where the students of this cycle have built furniture based on the proposals and designs of our students.
5) Participation in national and regional government programs related to health, gender equality, environmental education, the development of coexistence, the promotion of the use of technologies, and the promotion of reading.
6) Educational innovation: developing four educational innovation projects and participating in several pilot projects with this theme.
This network has allowed this project to continue growing in the future, creating new collaborations and initiatives to continue with this physical, pedagogical and social transformation.
At the local level, we have carried out several educational innovation projects and have participated in different programs and initiatives. The design and implementation has been carried out through the Educational Community and the collaboration of the City Council of Almeria and the Scientific Collections Center of the University of Almeria, with the donation of plants through the reuse of pallets donated by the company Cosentino or the donation of several olive trees and an apple tree by the company FCC CONVENSA.
At regional level, we have participated in several pilot projects such as "Open Sky Schools" and "Health Promoting Schools", and we have participated in educational conferences such as "Patios for the climate", as well as in the International Congress of Educational Innovation of Andalusia, presenting our experience.
At the national level, we have participated in the pilot project "Natural Schools for Change" of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and SEO-Bird Life. We have also participated in the "Urban Biodiversity Project in the Schools of Spain" and in the program "Groupings of centers that promote inclusive education" through the project "Re-connecting with the outdoors" of the Ministry of Education and Science. We have also participated in educational conferences such as the VII Symposium of teachers of the Network of Sustainable Schools of Spain or with the participation in the exhibition "Educational communities in transformation" with the support of the Biodiversity Foundation and the City Council of Barcelona. We have also carried out consultancies and training with specialists in the field such as landscape designers, pedagogues and environmental technicians.
At the European level, thanks to the contribution of the LIFE project "The Green Link", we have been able to learn about and use a new planting method for reforestation in arid areas, called Cocoon. Both in the school with fruit trees and in a reforestation around the school.
It is a project that implies a physical transformation of the space. Therefore, the participation of the following disciplines is necessary:
1)Architecture. For the design of the spaces, the techniques for the elimination of the concrete, the elaboration of the planimetry, as well as for the request of administrative permissions for the work.
2) Landscaping. To determine the type of plants and their distribution in the space. As well as having natural design asthetics.
3) Biology and Environment. In the branches of botany and zoology, to advise on the plant species best suited to the climate of the area (sunshine, strong winds, proximity to the sea) and to determine what type of birds would be most suitable for nesting in the school.
4) Ornithology. Experts from the Spanish Society of Ornithologists advise us to decide where to place the nest boxes for nesting birds.
5)Pedagogy. In order to include naturalized spaces within the dynamics of the classroom, providing models of actions in the outdoor space that are based on active outdoor methodologies.
To create a courtyard with these elements, we have required specialists in architecture and other disciplines, as well as teachers to reflect on the design of new spaces. The architect offers us the construction that has been guided by the teacher taking into account the pedagogy of educational practice, understanding the space as another educational agent and the playground as a new learning space. Therefore the articulation of the external space of the school has to be the result of an intense exchange between pedagogy, architecture and the educational project, creating and structuring diverse routes that invite students to choose, to provoke, to act; that invite to think. The pedagogical concept must be the basis for transforming the courtyard into a place of life, designed to be a habitable space, for all ages and specific needs of all members of the educational community.
This project is especially characterized by proposing a new paradigm for the teaching process, which is the ultimate goal. This innovation is not understood as a one-time activity but as part of a process in which we make a change not only in our educational practices but also in the organization of the school, the dynamics of the educational community and the professional development of teachers. The innovation necessary for this change in the teaching and learning process began with an underutilized playground, which was not at all attractive for learning because it did not provide any motivation, and then we built new sustainable and inclusive spaces, which are a source of motivation and learning.
The new spaces built have allowed us to include outdoor activities, based on active methodologies, such as an outdoor classroom in the school garden area, where students can undertake a multitude of activities, consisting of a pergola and picnic tables, with plants and fruit trees from the garden, where they can perform activities from observing the fauna of the environment, to activities related to other curricular areas. In this way, we create a natural environment that promotes calm and well-being of the students.
Likewise, the project allows the students to think critically, reflect, investigate, propose and carry out actions aimed at transforming the playground, thus empowering them for life.
At the beginning of our project, few teachers dared to teach outside the classroom; however, throughout the project and with the help of training, most of the teachers of the center use the playground as another learning space, which is now defined as a pedagogical line within our educational project.
This project could be replicated in other schools:
Firstly, because it involves a process of reflection in which children have a lot to contribute in the design and construction of schools by giving students the opportunity to reflect on these spaces, seek solutions, make proposals according to their needs and interests and participate in something that is as important to them as their school is. In addition, by raising awareness of environmental problems and their participation in the transformation and renaturalization of the playground, we offer them tools so that from the very first moment they become agents of change.
Secondly, this project has given teachers the opportunity to understand education in a different way and to be able to make changes in our teaching practices, understanding the pedagogical possibilities offered by space and architecture, as well as the implementation of active pedagogies based on nature such as outdoor education and environmental and eco-social education.
Thirdly, it has allowed an area as hard as a schoolyard to become a new green area for the school, for the neighborhood and for the city. Bringing biodiversity and sustainability to urban areas. By using it as a learning space, activities are carried out that would otherwise be more difficult to do: building an insect hotel, creating bird feeders, observing birds, insects, the passing of the seasons, creating the Nature Club where students plan activities related to the environment for other students at the center, etc.
This project has been carried out in four phases:
1) Participatory diagnosis and analysis: teaching staff has elaborated different activities to do with the students to analyze and diagnose their playground: prototypes, debates, collective mapping,etc. In this phase, the students also participated in architectural workshops given by the technical committee. Teachers and families also completed various digital questionnaires for this purpose. An analysis and sharing of the difficulties, advantages and needs of our playground has been carried out and has served as a starting point to continue with the next phase.
2) Proposals and design: Through the Design Thinking methodology, a series of activities have been developed cooperatively to be carried out with the students. The proposed activities have been attempted through different dynamics: World Coffee, What if?, Google Storming, projective drawings (plans), group exhibitions and digital works. In addition, the Board of Delegates has been created and several general assemblies have been held for the Infant and Primary students where their representatives have made their proposals known in a participative and democratic way.
3) Analysis of these proposals and a common discussion to specify a final design of the whole playground. The Motor Group together with the Technical Commission has elaborated a design of the playground. For this design we have also counted with the advice of the landscape designer, Inara Hasanova, specialized in transformation and renaturalization of school playgrounds.
4) Execution and construction phase: Through co-working and construction days, the entire educational community has begun with the transformation and renaturalization of the playground, through initiatives such as "Family Saturdays" where different construction workshops are organized.
It is a process that is never finished, as it is an opportunity for continuous learning for the entire educational community.
1) Climate change. The concrete roof has been removed, approximately 700 m2 , which have been converted into vegetation cover, consists of different species of trees and shrubs, which are important agents for CO2 capture. It involves the creation of small forests inside the schools, which have an impact on the environment of the neighborhood where it is located. In addition, gray water from the restrooms is reused to create a wetland and is used for irrigation. Likewise, the creation of soil, after eliminating the concrete, means a natural regularization of the temperature of the renaturalized areas, so the vegetable soil does not accumulate heat as concrete does (reduction of the heat island effect). Vegetation provides shade and regulates temperature through evapotranspiration, increasing the thermal comfort zone.
2) Sustainability. We have taken into account the use of different materials for the construction of the spaces, the selection of flora, as well as its proximity for its acquisition, and its adaptation to the climate of the school. Likewise, networks have been created with companies and associations that collaborate with the environment and other entities.
3) Biodiversity. The school is located in an urban environment, so the creation of renaturalized areas by removing the concrete layer has allowed them to be full of life, especially with the presence of insects and birds. Schools can be biodiversity recovery areas by simply replacing concrete with soil. The structure of the schools should facilitate the nesting of birds, or if necessary, facilitate the placement of nesting boxes for different species of birds.
4) Quality education. The creation of naturalized spaces has an impact on the improvement of education, since it implies the use of active methodologies, which focus on the development of key competencies of the students.
This project has been running for four years and will continue for a few more years. The results obtained during this period are related to the development of the project to date and the skills acquired by the students throughout these years. The project is planned to be developed in four phases, and we are currently in phase three, in the process of transforming the schoolyard. The percentage of actions completed is 71%, based on the levels of achievement of the project, we would be at a GOOD level (60%-70%), of the seven planned actions, 5 of them have been completed one hundred percent.
Regarding the results achieved by the students in relation to the acquisition of key competences, according to the data obtained in the last evaluation carried out in the 2020/2021 academic year, the percentage of students with an Advanced level in all key competences is 65%. This achievement is reflected in the following learning: collaborative learning, critical thinking in the face of difficulties encountered in the playground, development of creativity to respond to the problems posed, service-learning by proposing ideas, solutions and actions to carry out the project, respect for the proposals of others, promotion of entrepreneurship, and the main one, creation of a feeling and awareness about the care of the environment, as well as the development of ecological citizens who prioritize actions of care and respect for our environment.
Another relevant aspect, after analyzing the data obtained, is the substantial increase in the involvement of families in this project, as evidenced by the incorporation of more families to the motor group, to the commissions, which translates into a greater participation of families in the construction days of the playground.
Other data analyzed was the quality and quantity of collaborators involved in the project, and their presence at local and national level.
