Abstract

The Colombian high school education system advocates the use of standardized classrooms, conditioning the students’ social interactions. The nature of these generic spaces limits the development of the relationships between the teachers, the students, and the content studied. Hence, and despite the adequacy of these spaces for several educational activities, they are detrimental for the development of comprehensive and context-oriented learning processes, which calls into question their adequacy as universal learning environments. As a result, this article suggests an approach to educational space from the notion of “creative workshop.” The creative workshop constitutes an experimental educational experience which promotes non-fragmented and comprehensive approaches to knowledge, following two main principles: dynamic and cooperative relationships between teachers and students; and interaction between theory and practice through processes of context-oriented scenarios and activities of learning-by-doing and problem solving. This article is part of the research project “Diagnosis of the primary school and high school infrastructures in the municipalities of Palmira and Cerrito (Colombia)” (Diagnóstico sobre la infraestructura escolar de primaria y secundaria de los Municipios de Palmira y Cerrito), developed by the research group City, Environment and Popular Habitat (Ciudad, Medio Ambiente y Hábitat Popular), endorsed by the Antonio Nariño University (Colombia).