We are the Instituto Pedagógico Nacional…A seed of peace that sprouts in the building of an active, critical and engaged society
The Social Sciences department of the Instituto Pedagógico Nacional seeks the understanding and transformation of society, guided by social theorists and researchers, diverse worldviews and pedagogical schools that aim to respond to the educational needs of children and young people, so they may become citizens of present and future of Colombia, the Americas and the world.
Thus, the area critically and proactively addresses the different components of everyday educational life, as well as the processes that generally integrate school, education, and society. It recognizes the different actors who bring these processes to life as political agents, bearers and creators of identities and concrete political positions. This is developed through Social Sciences from first and third grade, through History and Geography from fourth and ninth grade, and, in secondary education, through the emphasis on Geopolitics, International relations, Political Science and Economics.
Objectives
- To educate participatory men and women with a pluralistic social awareness.
- To promote values such as solidarity, tolerance, democracy, justice, social harmony, and mutual support.
- To build knowledge in the field of Social Sciences and develop critical and social thinking.
- To encourage the expansion of students’ cultural horizons.
- To scientifically approach the study of history, geography, politics, economics, and culture to understand the current development of societies.
- To encourage the participation of the educational community in the democratic processes developed within the institution.
- To guide and contribute to the education of children and young people who are responsible toward themselves and society.
Basic competencies
The basic competencies in Social Sciences seek to strengthen social, geographical, and critical thinking within students’ social, political, and cultural environments, among others. They make use of tools that reinforce the work of the area through workshops, the PEDMUN extracurricular program, and participation in different projects. Likewise, they promote the development of students as social scientists through the emphasis on the Social and Critical Field and the Project Seminar. These competencies are interpretative, argumentative, and proactive.
Although the work, organization, and internal distribution of the department respond to the specific teaching and learning needs of the Instituto Pedagógico Nacional, they also take as a reference the parameters established by the Ministry of National Education (2006) through the Curricular Guidelines and the Basic Standards of Competencies in Social Science outlined below:
Relationships with history and culture, spatial and environmental relationships, and Ethical-Political relationships
This section presents connections with the past and with cultures, enabling students to situate themselves in different periods of time to analyze the diversity of perspectives from which societies have been understood and constructed, the conflicts that have arisen and been faced, and the types of knowledge that different cultures have produced throughout the years and centuries.Similarly, knowledge from geography and economics is introduced to understand different forms of human organization and the relationships that different communities have established and continue to establish with the natural and economic environment to survive and develop. In addition, identity and pluralism are addressed as fundamental concepts for understanding and undertaking the study of social and political institutions and organizations across different historical periods and geographical spaces.
Source from: ME. (2004). Science Education, the challenge we need.
Projects, workshops and extracurricular activities
For 2023, the Social Sciences Department includes different cross-curricular projects, workshops, and extracurricular activities aimed at integrating knowledge and educational practices, as well as developing students’ skills in teaching and learning processes.
- Democracy Project
- School Mediation Project
- Peace Project and Truth Commission
- Heritage Guardians Project
- Multiculturalism Project
- Political and Civic Education Project – PEDMUN
- Workshop C1- Children’s stories
- Workshop C2 – Explorers of Colombia
- Workshop C2- Mythology
- Workshop C3- ONU KIDS
- Workshop C5- Discovering Bogotá
- Workshop C5- Rap, Samba and Graffiti: Brazilian narratives
- PEDMUN Extracurricular Program