Children in Esteli: Fostering Equality Critical Thinking and Creativity

The project aims to improve the quality of early primary education (grades 1-3) in 14 public schools in the city of Esteli Nicaragua by training local teachers and engaging two local superintendents and 14 school principals in an art-based pedagogy to stimulate creativity critical thinking and improve cognitive functions among children six to eight years of age. It also educates parents to use the art-based approach at home empowering them to promote the social cognitive and emotional development of their children. The project aims to transform school cultures and pedagogical approaches so that they are better adapted to meeting the interests of girls and boys particularily in poor and working-class neighbourhoods. By grounding the art-based approach at the neighbourhood primary school and classroom level it should enable FUNARTE (La Fundación de Apoyo al Arte Creador Infantil) and the Ministry of Education to implement the art-based method in teachers' colleges and in schools in other regions of the country on the basis of a successful "school-tested" model. This is one of two components of a project valued at $186 996. The first component has been completed.