A Living and Connected Education: Progress of the ‘Knowledge from the Territory’ Project
- Luis Diego Molina
- Jul 21
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 22
Note: In February, we published the first blog post about the ‘Knowledge from the Territory’ project, where we explained this educational initiative in Baja California Sur and the concept of place-based learning. In this update, we share the project’s latest progress.
Ideas, voices, and dreams filled the EPI Mexico campus at the end of May. We gathered with teachers, partner organizations, and community leaders to continue advancing the project Knowledge from the Territory: A Guide to Place Based Learning in Baja California Sur, driven by the belief that a new way of educating is growing here, beside the sea and the desert.
We held a Workshop of Experts in Place Based Education, where we shared the project's progress, received feedback, and collaboratively shaped the next steps. The workshop took place within the framework of the UNESCO initiative ‘La Paz, Learnig City’, which includes the project and promotes inclusive and sustainable learning opportunities for all people.
This gathering marked a new chapter in the journey we began a year ago. Our goal remains firm: to strengthen basic and upper secondary education through place based learning rooted in the land where we live.
Place based learning reminds us that the territory itself is the classroom, and that community knowledge is fundamental to educating new generations.
“It is a pedagogical approach that uses the community and local environment as a way of teaching and learning,” explains Carolina Navarro, the project coordinator.
Some examples of outdoor activities carried out by EPI Mexico's groups
In this first year, 30 teachers and 962 students across four communities in Baja California Sur — La Paz, San José del Cabo, Loreto, and Mulegé — have participated. We held teacher training workshops, conducted a participatory diagnostic with educational communities, and began using educational materials designed specifically for the local context.
“So far, what we have done with this program has been a pilot phase in primary, secondary, and upper secondary education. In this phase, 20 teachers from the city of La Paz participated and supported us by using the educational materials with their students. In the end, we reached over 500 students engaging in these activities,” Carolina explains.
An additional 10 teachers from other parts of the state also joined in at the upper secondary level.
The learning guides are structured using the 5E pedagogical model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate) and include activities that encourage students to observe the territory, collectively map their environment, reflect on local socio environmental challenges, and propose individual and collective solutions.
At the elementary level, students have been working with the guide Exploring, Discovering, and Caring for Our Territory, while middle school students used Participatory Mapping and Environmental Actions. Both aim to take learning beyond the classroom and into daily life and the broader community.
At the upper secondary level, the lesson Knowing and Protecting Our Territory invites students to map the environmental issues in their communities and design collaborative action proposals to address them.
This project promotes a methodology grounded in inquiry, hands on experience, active participation, and reflective evaluation.
In the coming months, we aim to go even further: involving 65 teachers and 1,300 students from Baja California Sur. To achieve this, in the next phase we will develop comprehensive educational guides for the entire school year, engaging teachers and organizations in their co-creation. For this purpose, we are inviting new educational communities, collectives, and allies who, like us, believe in a vibrant education connected to the territory and committed to social transformation.
We continue learning from the territory, with the people who inhabit it, caring for the present and sowing the seeds of the future!