Abstract:

This summary presents a critical and humanized synthesis of the paper focused on the “living classrooms” approach as a transformative proposal for traditional schools, especially those located in the Ciudad Bolívar neighborhood of Bogotá. This approach seeks to strengthen the relationship between learning, territory, and subjective experience, breaking with positivist models that reduce education to mechanical, homogeneous, and decontextualized practices.

The paper highlights that Latin American schools have experienced historical tensions between two paradigms: the traditional model, focused on repetition, control, and the linear transmission of content, and the emerging paradigm, which conceives of learning as a vital, relational experience deeply rooted in the territory. Authors such as Freire, Maturana, Assmann, Sousa Santos, and Martínez Miguélez agree that knowledge is constructed in dialogue with life, community, and emotions, recognizing that students are not passive recipients but active subjects of knowledge.

The document emphasizes that school positivism fragmented knowledge, silenced diversity, and weakened the relationship with the community. From this perspective, Bourdieu and Passeron explain how schools reproduce social inequalities when they ignore the cultural capital of the territory. The traditional school, with its closed classroom, thus becomes a space that domesticates more than it emancipates.

In response, the paper proposes the concept of the “living classroom,” understood as a flexible, dynamic educational space that is open to the local area and sensitive to the experiences of students and communities. Living classrooms integrate practices such as social cartography, community dialogue, fieldwork, and collective reflection. Far from being limited to a physical classroom, these classrooms turn the environment into a learning setting, promoting a situated pedagogy that recognizes local history, culture, and knowledge.

A review of 57 academic articles showed that, although there have been advances in situated education and critical pedagogies, research on living classrooms remains scattered. This opens up a relevant field of research for primary school teachers and educational institutions seeking to strengthen the social relevance of their curriculum.
The paper concludes that living classrooms are an ethical and political commitment that reconfigures the relationship between school and territory. This approach promotes humanized curricula, less punitive assessments, more participatory methodologies, and an understanding of learning as a complex and deeply human process. Its implementation contributes to the school becoming a living environment that recognizes the voice of the student, integrates the knowledge of the community, and strengthens social transformation through education.

Keywords:

School, situated pedagogy, living classrooms, territory, subjects.