Philosophy for big children: an experience narrated since the creation of the Futuristic Garden

Abstract

This story seeks to show the experience of the creation, care, and appropriation of El Jardín Futurista, a space dedicated to the environment and ecology through the cultivation of plants and flowers, developed with a group of seniors’ students at the Colegio Mixto Ciudadanos del Futuro in Bogotá, Colombia. Inspired by the Philosophy for Children project and, specifically, by the character “la mariquita Juanita” from the Noria Project, this proposal shows how it is possible to remove philosophy from the classroom and take it to other sceneries where dialogue is generated, ideas are shared and cooperative work is built. During the story about how this space was built, the protagonist’s voices of the project appear, expressing their thoughts and appropriate the word as an exercise of autonomy and reflection on different pedagogical, environmental and philosophical situations. It is not only a historical reconstruction, but also an inquiry into different aspects associated with the process of creating scenarios for alternative educational practices.