Learning in the city from different visual perspectives.

Abstract

Infant Education in Spain encompasses ages 0 to 6 years and is a child’s first formal contact with the surrounding environment. Although people never stop receiving stimuli and acquiring knowledge throughout their lives, it is during this stage of early childhood when the foundations for future learning are laid. The relationship between children and their environment is strongly influenced by their perception and curiosity, and therefore, investigation and enquiry can becoming an educational learning tool. By taking advantage of a child’s attraction to the new and the novel, we can look for spaces and materials for them to discover, so that they can acquire new knowledge or build upon previously learned information. In this way, it is interesting to consider the city as a familiar place for children, and also one which they can learn about from different visual perspectives. As a result, we will be able to transmit to our children knowledge that is usually taught in the school classroom. In addition, the city can serve as a central point from which we can introduce content related with nature, physical phenomena, human beings, art, visual elements, mathematics, health, etc. Essentially, the key to learning about the city lies in carrying out excursions and visiting specific places. However, children can also start to construct their knowledge about certain aspects of the city in the classroom, through introductory activities prior to the trip. It is an important part of a child’s education to acquire knowledge in an extracurricular environment, in other words, a formal context outside of the school in places that they associate with family and leisure.