Learning in Diverse Educational Contexts: Bringing Social Justice when Designing Culturally Rich Learning Experiences in Brazil

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DOI:10.59668/329.5275
EducationSocial JusticeLearning Design
The research study aims to understand how culturally rich learning experiences in urban settings can change people’s perceptions towards social justice. The methodology used is known as research-training in cyberculture. The study takes place in the context of a course offered to in-service teachers by the Federal Institute of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Fifty-two educators participated in this study. The educators' narratives described opportunities to interact with local culture and art, as well as practices that highlight cultural diversity and ways to promote social justice.

Introduction

An educational project that combined educational technology, communication, culture, and art was carried out in the Metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro, known as the Baixada Fluminense in Brazil. We used a combination of social theory, urban education, and technology to combat systems that promote or perpetuate injustice and inequality. The goal was to deconstruct the everyday discourse that cultural life was non-existent in Baixada Fluminense, Brazil. The project also addressed educators’ perceived lack of access to the cultural assets in Baixada Fluminense, particularly in the city’s periphery. We aimed to foster interaction and mapping of culture and arts in the Baixada Fluminense, as well as to encourage educational practices that emphasize the diversity of these communities. To achieve these goals, we provided educators’ experiences in local cultural and artistic spaces and access to a diverse range of cultural groups living in the city.

This study focused on how learning design can be used as a strategy for opposing and/or changing systems that frequently promote or perpetuate social injustice and inequality. Learning designers have a responsibility as agents of change to prioritize the public interest and a sense of civic responsibility in their work (Yusop & Correia, 2014). The following research question guided the study:

What kinds of awareness do educators who create culturally rich learning experiences cultivate to promote social justice in the intersection of urbanism, technology, culture, and the arts?

Social Justice Education

This research is based on the work of Paulo Freire, a Brazilian-born educator and social justice advocate. Freire (2018) saw education as a way to problematize the world, engage in constant dialogue, and raise awareness for understanding the world around us. Freire (2004) advocated for education for liberation and social justice in the face of oppression. He proposed a dialogical, emancipatory, critical, reflexive, and ethical education in opposition to what he referred to as “banking education” (Freire, 2018). A banking education perspective assumes that teachers deposit knowledge to passive students who are assumed to be disconnected from their realities. Students are seen as “a person . . . merely in the world, not with the world or with others; the individual is spectator, not re-creator” (Freire, 2018, p. 75).

In contrast, Freire (1973) proposed that students construct knowledge through confrontation with its reality, making sense of their lived experiences. He encouraged a curious attitude toward the world, always seeking understanding and aiming to develop critical consciousness. Freire (2018) proposed that people are in a relationship with the world to change the dynamics of power and inequality. Understanding this relationship and taking action on it are at the root of critical consciousness. To achieve this, he advocated a reflexive, dialogic, conscientious, and libertarian education. 

Freire’s ideas demand we recognize each person’s value in society regardless of profession or level of study, because there is no hierarchy of knowledge and culture. If we fight against oppression and favor equality, we can build a just society. Many others have taken up and expanded on Freire’s ideas. For example, Adams (2016) used these ideas to develop a pedagogy for social justice education. Adams (2016) explained this pedagogy as “experiential, participant-centered, inclusive, collaborative, and democratic” (p. 29). Importantly, like Freire’s critical pedagogy, Adams’ (2016) approach focuses on the ways our social positions are related to larger systems that reproduce inequality.

Social justice education is a concept that expresses the desire and the commitment of education to social justice and equitable relationships in the face of oppression and exclusion (Adams, 2016). Therefore, learning experiences based on this approach invest in diversity, individual experiences, anti-discrimination education, various identities and cultural background, inclusion, and community.

Hackman and Rauscher (2004) highlighted five pedagogical components for educators to consider when implementing social justice education: content mastery, critical thinking tools, self-reflection tools, social change tools, and tools for attending to multicultural group dynamics. Each of these components is essential for students to connect information to “larger social and cultural frameworks,” engage in critical thinking, include multiple perspectives, and apply a critical, systemic analysis to issues (Hackman and Rauscher, 2004, p. 114-115).

For this project, we used insights from critical and social justice pedagogy to design the learning experiences, also remembering Bell’s (2016) reflection that “social justice is both a goal and a process” (p. 3).

Methodology: Research-Training in Cyberculture

Research-training in cyberculture (Santos, 2019) is an epistemological fusion of multi-referential theories (Ardoino, 1998), research on everyday life in schools (Alves, 2011), and cyberculture (Lévy, 1999). One of the main inspirations in the development of this methodology was Josso’s (2004) research-training methodology which developed a theory of education based on autobiographical approaches. An autobiographical approach involves participants creating narratives about themselves, their educational and research processes, culture, identities, and territories, or narratives on training-related subjects that they are comfortable approaching.

The research-training methodology is rooted in the work of Paulo Freire. Josso (2009) stated, “[Freire’s] method of analyzing discourses and silences as a source of essential realities . . . inspired the development of my method of analyzing and interpreting written narratives” (p. 138). The research-training method is based on life stories as a project of knowledge and education, with the narrative of life experiences and education serving as the methodological path (Josso, 2009). The goal is to understand educational processes that are affective and reflexive in nature for students. Therefore, narratives are fundamental when analyzing data. The theoretical and methodological components of this study are consistent with the issues addressed in the work.

Research-training is a methodology designed to bridge the gap between educational processes and scientific investigation while taking cyberculture into account. “Cyberculture” refers to the set of techniques (material and intellectual), practices, attitudes, ways of thinking, and values that develop together with the growth of cyberspace (Lévy, 1999, p. 17). Cyberculture is a contemporary culture shaped by digital technologies (Santos, 2019). This is similar to a participatory research model that does not separate teaching and learning from research. According to research-training in cyberculture, the links between teaching practices and research are robust because research occurs concurrently with our educational practices. This method investigates teaching practices, as well as interactions with participants, particularly when using digital technologies.

Participants of the Study

The study took place in the context of the course "Teaching Training for Communication, Culture, and Art," offered online by the Federal Institute of Rio de Janeiro on the Belford Roxo campus in Brazil. This course was offered by the first author of this study. Students enrolled in this course, primarily from Baixada Fluminense in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, participated in the study. They were primarily in-service teachers, but they also included school principals and coordinators. Participants came from a variety of backgrounds and ranged in age from 23 to 58 years old. This study included a total of 52 participants.

Instead of hand-picking study participants, we invited all students enrolled in the course to participate in the research. When they agreed to participate, they signed an informed consent form acknowledging the study's purpose and any associated benefits or drawbacks. They consented to the analysis of artifacts from their practices, as well as, their reflections on the course and projects.

Context of the Study

The Baixada Fluminense has a population of about three million people and is located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Baixada Fluminense is a geographical as well as a political designation. In terms of a geographical classification, it consists of thirteen municipalities (Sebrae, 2016) in the northwestern part of Rio de Janeiro that comprise its metropolitan region. These municipalities all share a lack of urban infrastructure, low levels of education among their residents, and high levels of violence and poverty.

The urban setting for this research was the municipality of Belford Roxo in Rio de Janeiro. Almost 40% of the Belford Roxo population survives on monthly incomes of up to half the minimum wage per person (Almeida, 2018). Belford Roxo is characterized by high levels of violence and inadequate basic sanitation (Almeida, 2018). The region is plagued with poverty and social and racial injustice. The researchers were well aware of these ongoing and long-standing issues of systemic injustice and oppression.

Learning Experiences

From March 5, 2018, to June 15, 2019, three editions of the course were offered every six months. During the first two editions of the course, we conducted a pilot study with a different group of participants. The data for this study emerged from participants in the third edition of the course. The course was created in the learning management system Moodle, and was based on theories and principles of online education (Martins et al., 2020). The course also included face-to-face sessions at the Federal Institute of Rio de Janeiro's Belford Roxo campus, as well as field activities in the cities of Rio de Janeiro, Nilópolis, São João de Meriti, and Mesquita. The course required a total of 162 contact hours (see Table 1 for details on course topics and assignments).

The educational design used a variety of activities and resources (e.g., videos, images, audios, texts, comics, animations, group and individual collaborative activities) to provide as many learning channels as possible and to make the class as multimodal as possible. Multiple learning channels and modes of expression are critical for prioritizing all learning preferences with various formats and media. Students selected how they wanted to develop their assignments/products and the perspective they wanted to take.

We developed evaluations using a variety of techniques for each topic and content to continuously measure the process, while observing learning progress and student engagement. We documented this process in Google sheets and shared grades with the students weekly. As a result, students could track their progress and engage in extracurricular activities to improve their grades.

Previous editions of the course informed and improved our course assessment design, including making it more accessible, using appropriate interfaces for people with disabilities, implementing more clear and regular communications, and changing the teaching material to a more accessible format. In response to the needs of the students, we developed a learner-friendly course by revising the course objectives and adding opportunities for experiential learning.

Procedures

The overall research, design, and implementation process followed four integrated stages, or procedures. These are described below.

Stage 1: Teaching dilemmas: Dilemmas can arise from the relationship with students, as well as, the tensions of curricular practices, political processes, and concerns about current events (Santos, 2019). We devised research questions, and then transformed these questions into educational processes and research actions.

Stage 2: Research practices: The researcher’s methods and means (procedures) developed to raise notions to better understand the research phenomena (Ardoino, 2003). We then designed the research and educational practices for the project based (e.g., classes, courses, and trainings).

Stage 3: Emergence of the data: Face-to-face and online conversations, pedagogical practices, and the assignments/productions for the course were used as data sources. Participants produced narratives using text, images, sounds, and audiovisuals across the virtual learning environment, learning diaries, group activities, and other evaluation types (Santos, 2019). Narratives emerged from dialogues in digital platforms such as forums, chats, wikis, collective writing blogs, applications, and many others that promote dialogue, collaboration, and a sense of community and belonging (Chatterjee & Correia, 2020).

Stage 4: Conversation with data (analysis procedures): We created meanings from the data that related to our involvement with the research and our goals. These meanings emerged from our analytical lenses and approaches while analyzing the data from the practice, the field experiences, and the students' narratives.

Learning experiences were created to promote reflections integrating social technology, culture, communication, and art in education. It was critical for educators to recognize the importance of incorporating the relationship between education and urban settings into their educational proposals to promote liberation and social justice. Through training and investigative strategies, we aimed to support the development of this critical understanding (see Table 1). 

Table 1

Training and Investigative Strategies

TopicToolsAssignmentsSocial justice education concepts
Online educationMoodleReflections about preparing classes using the Google Arts & Culture application.

We encouraged participants’ inquisitive attitudes and the connections between arts, culture, and technologies.
Pedagogic knowledgeMoodleDiscussion on “How can we think of pedagogical practices across cities?”We supported the dialogical process to change dynamics of power, social systems, collective problems, and inequality in the students’ realities.
Teaching experiences 1Blog micronarrativasurbanas. wordpress.comCollaborative writing about life in Baixada Fluminense and ways to develop a sense of community.We promoted the understanding of the world that surrounds students to develop critical consciousness.
Teaching experiences 2Google My MapsCuratorship and collaborative map of educational webs in the communities of Baixada Fluminense.We inspired emancipatory and reflexive education to build communities of practice.
Final communication, culture, and art seminarCommunities of Baixada FluminenseEducational intervention in the city focused on communication, culture, and art (experiential).We motivated students to be agents of change and recreate the world with a sense of civic responsibility.

Major Findings

Cities belong to everyone, but not everyone feels at home in them. Critical pedagogy is required to support social equity in the context of a lack of public in poor regions like Baixada Fluminense to create, maintain, and access cultural and artistic social goods. The narratives of study participants Rosangela, Renata, Silvio, Mariana, and Fernanda (pseudonyms) are reflected in the following paragraphs. We italicized parts of the quote to emphasize the sections where the participant narratives promote social justice concepts.

Rosangela's narrative about the Google Arts & Culture application was born in a discussion forum. We questioned how educators and teachers could use this application, which includes cultural and artistic spaces, to create classes.

Rosangela on March 29th, 2019 opined that, cyberculture or cyberspace helps us learn. Through virtual environments such as the Google Arts & Culture app, we can interact knowing different articles to add to our “knowledge of the world.” ( . . . ) I think of a non-traditional class, where the student would re-read Pop Art’s work and seek to trace the same technique of the Lichtenstein movement. It will bring art into their daily lives, squares, and houses, as well as a specific place that the individual wishes to represent.

In Rosangela’s narrative, we highlighted the words “knowledge of the world” as a fundamental expression. Other participants also reflected on this fundamental expression. For example, Rosangela created an activity that related students’ knowledge with their daily lives through neighborhood squares, houses, or other places. Fernanda offered ways to rethink pedagogical practices in the city, stating, “Taking into account the experience of the people, in what world they are living and from there develop joint action methods, leading them to know and enjoy the city where they live.”

From these narratives we observed what Freire (2018) calls “awareness of reality” (p. 107), meaning the awareness that originated from the deepening of reality. A theme emerged from this triangulation between experience in the research field, participants’ narrative, and theoretical framework: the conscious teaching that values ​​the students’ reality, as it encourages using students’ contexts as the starting point.

The applications used, such as Google Arts & Culture, have not led to realities close to the participants’ experiences. Instead, these applications drove them to the museums of the world, which were a distant representation for many students who lived in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As a result, we decided to create a space related to the students’ realities, mapping art, culture, communication, and other educational spaces where participants lived and worked. We included educational spaces in the Baixada Fluminense in a collaborative map on Google My Maps in topics: Teaching Experiences 1 and 2. The objective was to disseminate knowledge about relevant spaces in a territory discredited by a large part of the population, which has a stigma that it does not “produce culture” or that culture is the “culture of violence.”

Participants in this study mapped twenty-five points of cultural relevance that they visited using photos, descriptions, and educational proposals (e.g., community libraries, theaters, museums, cultural centers, murals, schools, and coworking spaces) (Figure 1).

Figure 1

Screenshot of a Micronarrative Produced by One of the Study Participants (In Portuguese)

Martines-10-4-Fig1.png
Screenshot of Micronarratives

Their perceptions as educators on the value of the diverse cultural and artistic expressions in Baixada Fluminense changed as a result of the technology-mediated experiences. Faced with this scenario, Renata reflects:

Renata on May 16th, 2019 opined that, it is important to think about educational practices around the city. It is a way to go deeper when it comes to contextualizing the curriculum to the reality of each student; to bring more meaning to education; to remember that culture is the way we live and, thus, to value – instead of erasing or underestimating – the students’ daily experiences. ( . . . ) Through this perspective, one is more likely to think that the movement is already here (it is just not widely disseminated) than to accept what is frequently believed that “Baixada has nothing,” “Baixada has no culture, has no museums, etc.” ( . . . ) Even today, teaching food and nutrients, I used the neighborhood cafeterias and what they offer to contextualize the local food culture (when I proposed that it be a local analysis, the students already thought it was Brazil or Rio de Janeiro. And, to their surprise, I stressed that the place would be Parque Alian and that we would think about our experiences because our neighborhood also has its culture).

A rich narrative addressing multiple themes, such as “contextualizing the curriculum to the reality of each student,” “bringing more meaning to education,” “remembering that culture is the way one lives and, thus, valuing – instead of erasing or underestimating – the students’ daily experiences” was identified. It focuses our attention on exemplifying conscious teaching that values ​​the students’ realities, especially when the participant includes an example of an activity she performed with students to “contextualize the local cuisine.” Similarly, Rosangela applies the activity to students’ daily lives, squares, houses, and facts. We devised activities to value the urban settings in which the research was conducted..

We believe that engaging in dialogue with different urban settings allows us to reflect on their situationality. As Freire (2018) points out, people are beings “in a situation” (p. 109), rooted in time-space, which mark them and which they also mark. They tend to reflect on their own situationality to the point where they are dismayed by it and act on it. Silvio's narrative below helped us understand how to reflect on the inclusion of urban settings when developing pedagogical actions.

Silvio on May 8th, 2019 opined that, a library, a square, a corner, an irregular football field, are places in which we can transcend the appearances of these urban objects and, yes, seek the essence of these objects and to understand the different meanings that each social group is appropriating and assigning new roles. From that, I believe that we can develop new pedagogical practices.

In seeking to understand the meanings that each social group attributes to urban spaces, Silvio opens the door for us to consider another theme: the problematizing existence that changes the world. According to Freire (2018), “a critical analysis of a significant existential dimension makes possible a new, critical attitude towards the limit-situations. The perception and comprehension of reality are rectified and acquire new depth” (p. 104). If we consider education to be a means of promoting reflection, criticism, problematization, and social change, we must insist on equitable learning and similar opportunities for all students.

Mariana on May 17th, 2019 opined that, the use of this type of technology that allows the insertion of “points” on the map shows us how much we can be protagonists of our own experiences. As a result, we can modify teaching practices, both in the places where the classes we teach are held and introduce new spaces to our students. When I read Paulo Freire's (2004) assertion that “the city is culture, it is creation, not only for what we do in it and for it, for what we create in it and with it,” it reaffirms the importance of these outside educational spaces. Having us to play a critical role in the urban environment.

When we consider the possibility of intervening in urban settings, we articulate as citizens our actions that will bring about positive change. Citizens must identify with their surroundings and neighborhoods in order for such change to occur. This identification is important for the meaning-making process and is required for people to feel like they belong to a collective patrimony. By employing educational approaches that ensure all students have equal access to a high-quality education. According to Bell (2016), social justice education can be divided into three categories: social responsibility, student empowerment, and equitable resource distribution. “All three of these goals seek to help students become agents of their education as well as active, powerful, solution-oriented members of their communities” (Hackman and Rauscher, 2004, p. 114).

People must be aware of the oppression brought about by their social class, gender, race, and intersection. To understand how perverse logic is (systems of power and privilege) to act for structural changes in their realities (educational, work, and social environment, neighborhoods, and cities) empowering and inclusive places, we must look critically through an intersectional lens. Educators must band together in this fight, joining forces to combat oppression. As Freire (1998) explains:

The educator with a democratic vision or posture cannot avoid in his teaching praxis insisting on the critical capacity, curiosity, and autonomy of the learner. ( . . . ) It’s exactly in this sense that to teach cannot be reduced to a superficial or externalized contact with the object or its content but extends to the production of the conditions in which critical learning is possible (p.33).

It is necessary to join this discussion and understand the need for experiential learning and not address issues superficially. Thus, we intend to present our experiences and reflect on how we hope for a world with social justice. “Hope” defined by Freire (2018) does not mean “sit and wait,” but instead “fight for hope.” “Hope, however, does not consist in crossing one’s arms and waiting. As long as I fight, I am moved by hope; and if I fight with hope, then I can wait” (p. 92). Below are two narratives of participants who have given us hope. We begin with Fernanda’s statement, as follows:

Fernanda on May 16th, 2019 made a statement that, For a long time in my life, I always looked for resources outside or far from where I live because I believe that there were two parallel worlds; one the world “outside the Baixada” and another the “Baixada and its communities.” Throughout this course, I started to think: “Why not here?” “Everything we produce here is also culture; there are things here that I consider art too.” We need to know more about the Baixada Fluminense by being observers and creators of our culture and art. There is a world around us that constitutes what we are and what we will be.

Based on Fernanda’s narrative, we conclude that the change of perspective on the territory is possible through a training process. We can hope for a world with social justice, and education is one of the biggest agents in this transformation. In this regard, we present the intervention in the city, developed as coursework.

Mariana and Renata on May 31st, 2019 opined that, the project aims to hold an exhibition, sale, and dialogue fair. ( . . . ) CRIAS from BXD opens space for artisans’ creations from Baixada Fluminense and addresses entrepreneurship, creative economy, women’s empowerment, and conscious consumption. The Baixada has a reputation for being a dangerous neighborhood with few recreational and cultural opportunities. We think about giving space and a voice to people [who] are protagonists of their stories, and who will tell them to everyone. When we gather in one place, women who have decided to work on their own creations, we are defying the capitalist logic of production. Even today, women are made invisible in many work environments, and their work is still seen as inferior. Deciding to live off an income from what you do is a tremendous political act ( . . . ).

Creative economy, invisible women, autonomy, women’s empowerment, conscious consumption, a political act, resistance, Baixada Fluminense´s crime, and poverty rates are some of the topics addressed by Mariana and Renata. The narratives relate to the importance of cultural spaces as educational vectors to reverberate the experience in and of the city, in search for a more just and plural city, in which everyone can exercise their citizenship, fight against oppression, and effectively experience their right to the city with hope for a world with social justice.

Table 2 shows an overview of the major findings. Participants’ narratives are connected to the emerging themes and Freire’s direct quotes.

Table 2

Major Findings Summary

 Emerging themeFreire’s quoteParticipants’ narrative
The conscious teaching values ​​the students’ reality, as it encourages using students’ contexts as the starting point.Thematic investigation: “a common striving towards awareness of reality and towards self-awareness, which makes this investigation a starting point for the educational process or for cultural action of a liberating character” (Freire, 2018, p. 107).“It will bring art into their daily lives, squares, and houses, as well as a specific place that the individual wishes to represent” (Rosangela, 2019). “Taking into account the experience of the people, in what world they are living and from there develop joint action methods, leading them to know and enjoy the city where they live” (Fernanda, 2019).
 Problematizing an existence that changes the world“The educator with a democratic vision or posture cannot avoid in his teaching praxis insisting on the critical capacity, curiosity, and autonomy of the learner. ( . . . ) It’s exactly in this sense that to teach cannot be reduced to a superficial or externalized contact with the object or its content but extends to the production of the conditions in which critical learning is possible” (Freire, 1998, p.33).“When I proposed that it be a local analysis, the students already thought it was Brazil or Rio de Janeiro. And, to their surprise, I stressed that the place would be Parque Alian and that we would think about our experiences because our neighborhood also has its culture” (Renata, 2019). 
 Hope for a world with social justice“Hope, however, does not consist in crossing one’s arms and waiting. As long as I fight, I am moved by hope; and if I fight with hope, then I can wait” (Freire, 2018, p. 92).“CRIAS from BXD opens space for artisans’ creations from Baixada Fluminense and addresses entrepreneurship, creative economy, women’s empowerment, and conscious consumption. ( . . . ) When we gather in one place, women who have decided to work with their own creations, we are defying the capitalist logic of production. Deciding to live off an income from what you do is a tremendous political act” (Renata and Mariana, 2019).

We recalled the study question “what forms of awareness educators who design culturally rich learning experiences develop to promote social justice in the interface with urbanism, technology, culture, and the arts?” to connect the question, findings, and conclusions. The educators present narratives related to the following topics: awareness of the situation, contextualization of the curriculum to the student’s realities, bringing more meaning to education, relationship between culture, arts and social justice, students’ empowerment, reflections on gender, social inequalities, consumption, women's position in society, and political acts. In Table 2, we relate these forms of awareness with Paulo Freire’s studies and highlight the three subsumption notions that became most significant for the researchers.

Conclusion

In a community like Baixada Fluminense where everything seems missing (e.g., inadequate basic sanitation and poverty), our participants’ narratives provided an alternative perspective. In fact, they showed the opposite. Their narratives showed Baixada Fluminense people’s creativity, cultural richness, mobilization, critical sense, exchange, determination, willingness, sharing, emotion, and many other positive traits and actions. Baixada Fluminense became a space that inspires, rather than a space that was lacking. The educators’ narratives express their sense of belonging to the Baixada Fluminense communities, their dedication to the collective, and the need to learn how to reinvent urban settings capable of transforming their citizens.

This research study was critical in dispelling cultural myths and contributing to culturally rich learning experiences that recognized marginalized neighborhoods as cultural and historical epicenters. We created activities to value the spaces in which the research was conducted. They included the discussion on pedagogical practices across cities, the collaborative writing about life in Baixada Fluminense, ways to develop a sense of community, a collaborative map of educational webs in the communities of Baixada Fluminense, and the educational intervention in the city focused on communication, culture, and art. We appreciated the importance of citizenship to transform spaces, change perceptions, and critical thinking about reality to pursue positive change and social justice. One of the intents of this study was to expose experiences in urban communities, especially in diverse educational contexts with artistic installations, institutional memories, cultural centers, and recognize culture as the result of history and social movements.

The methodology used in this study, research-training in cyberculture, enabled participants to share their pedagogical practices and supported the emergence of three major themes: conscious teaching to value the students’ realities and surroundings, problematizing existence that changes the world and the hope for a world more just. These themes were developed based on the integration of social justice education literature, the experiences during the field research, and students’ narratives.

We believe that the extended experience (one semester and 162 hours) was critical for the educational and research process to be successful. These outcomes were also influenced by the activities of experienced teachers who value social justice. The course curriculum, including field activities for the cultural, artistic, and technological facilities of the cities (e.g., streets, community libraries, theaters, museums, cultural and community centers, murals, schools, and coworking spaces), contributed to the participants reflecting deeply on topics of social justice: empowerment, freedom, communities, equity, students’ realities, oppression, and social responsibility.

At this juncture of the project, we aim to (1) create a web portal to make the content of this study accessible to teachers and other education professionals; and (2) distribute QR codes to educational spaces that direct learners to the curated resources. In this regard, we understand that critical pedagogical practices will lead to equitable spaces and create opportunities to access culture, communication, and arts. In the face of socio-political scenarios of forgetfulness and inequality in the region where the research was conducted, redesigning our educational practices is critical. May more experiences occur and more stories be told to motivate educators in Brazil and around the world to fight for an education based on social justice and equity.

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Acknowledgment

This study was financed partially by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brazil (CAPES - Finance Code 001) and partially by the Federal Institute of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Vivian Martins

Federal Institute of Rio de Janeiro

Vivian Martins is a Professor of Distance Education and Educational Technologies at the Federal Institute of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is a doctoral candidate in Education from the State University of Rio de Janeiro. Martins’ research is focused on online education, mobile learning, pedagogy, and pedagogical practices.
Ana-Paula Correia

The Ohio State University

Dr. Ana-Paula Correia is a Professor of Learning Technologies at The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA. She is also the Director of the Center on Education and Training for Employment at the same university. Correia’s research is focused on learning technologies, learning design, and curriculum development.
Edméa Santos

Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro

Dr. Edméa Santos is a Full Professor at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She works at the Institute of Education and at the Postgraduate Program in Education. Santos’s research is focused on “education and cyberculture”, research and pedagogical practices, teacher training, didactics, curricula, and online education.

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