
to go beyond
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Campus b – To Go Beyond
In March 2023, we welcomed a group of undergraduate students from the University of Illinois Chicago on a learning journey in Brazil that aimed to demonstrate how geographic and cultural factors affect educational settings and learning, with a particular focus on childhood education.
Prior to students’ departure, we worked remotely with students over the course of four weeks to offer virtual courses that provided introductory information on Brazil and the country’s education system. These preparatory sessions gave students the background necessary to optimize the time they spent in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, where they conducted a series of visits to organizations leading the innovation of the field of education in the country and participating in activities alongside representatives from these organizations.
Following these pre-departure virtual sessions, students embarked on their journey to Brazil in mid-March. The first half of the trip, which was spent in São Paulo, immersed students in a series of key issues related to innovation in the field of education. Students also visited Escola Concept, a private K-12 school that offers a bilingual curriculum, emphasizes project-based learning, and prioritizes personalized student support through individualized learning plans and a low teacher-student ratio.
Students then proceeded on to Rio de Janeiro, where they had the chance to explore decolonial forms of learning. Most notably, they took a day trip to Tekoa Ka’ Aguy Ovy Porã, an Indigenous community located in the neighboring city of Maricá. During this trip, students visited the community’s school, where they engaged in dialogue with students and professors about the history of the community and its day-to-day functioning.
The College of Education at the University of São Paulo (FE-USP) is a renowned institution that offers undergraduate programs in Pedagogy, Physical Education, and Arts Education, as well as several graduate programs, including a Master’s and a Doctoral program in Education. Having been founded in 1934, the college has established several research centers and laboratories that conduct cutting-edge research in various areas of education, such as the Center for Advanced Studies in Teacher Education and the Laboratory of Educational Technologies.
Over the course of the week students spent in Brazil, they had the chance to meet high school students at the Escola de Aplicação, middle school students at the Escola Concept, and elementary school students in the Ka’ Aguy Ovy Porã Community. Bringing together students from different backgrounds and ages and who were brought up in a range of different educational systems gave UIC students a more holistic view of the full panorama of educational experiences in the country.
In addition, the visits that students conducted gave them an opportunity to understand how certain issues that impact the field of education internationally manifest themselves locally in the Brazilian context.
While chatting with researchers and practitioners at the Instituto Nacional do Letramento (an educational organization that focuses on promoting literacy skills and supporting literacy educators), students learned about the difficulty in maintaining teachers in a profession that is oftentimes undervalued and underfunded.
Similarly, while visiting the Indigenous community in Rio, community members shared with students the challenges they face in trying to maintain their forms of learning and living in a society that neglects to see them as valid.
In spite of this, however, UIC students witnessed how educators and students alike have been successful in innovating and transforming the field to better serve all those who participate in it. While the Escola Concept is responding to this transforming environment with initiatives such as 3D printer student projects and mental health training, members of the Ka’ Aguy Ovy Porã Community do so by maintaining community-based education, in areas such as construction and fishing. In both cases, program participants were exposed to pedagogical models focused on preparing students for life, rather than a standardized test.
Did you enjoy reading about this incredible international education journey?
Campus b Team
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Rua Helena, 140 cj 103
São Paulo – SP – Brazil, 04552-050
+ 55 11 3845-0550