El Congreso Escolar del BicentenarioUn proyecto innovador para los jóvenes de Cádiz

Abstract

Since 2006 we have been carrying out an experience with an enormous pedagogical value to something less than a thousand students from the schools of the city of Cadiz. It is the School Congress of the Bicentennial of the Constitution of 1812, which arises from the collaboration of three institutions of the city: the City of Cadiz, the Department of Education and the University of Cadiz. Born with the ideal of making the children who then were eleven or twelve, into the young people who are today, 18 years old with a critical view of the world around them, with committed civic values and the idea of training them in the constitution and politics. But not the politics understood as we understand it today, about party ideas, but as the Greek polis concept of participation and involvement of citizens in public affairs of the polis (city). In short, based on the knowledge of our history as the birth of the Constitution of 1812, teaching the principles and current values (values education). Both the dynamics of work, leaving the classroom to other learning scenarios that took place at meetings in the Faculty of Education, such as active learning (learning by doing) and through collaborative learning, awaken in them the interest in knowing the origin of our Constitution and make this educational project a personally enriching experience and an academically motivating learning. We work with all the educational centers of the city of Cadiz, both public and private, arranged in an investigation that is just an extracurricular academic work which, unlike the classroom work, is motivating and raises the interest of students, bringing them to an unforgettable significant learning. Students work in groups of several schools to carry out a Congress in which papers are presented on topics such as rights and duties, The Crown, The freedom of the press, defenses of Cadiz in 1812, Trade and daily life of our city in 1812 ... etc. This Congress is held annually at the Conference Centre of Cadiz. In it, the students expose to their colleagues the work performed in each group to a total of 4 papers. Each of which develops a topic that previously teachers in each participant school have proposed to work on.