Lumiar expalined...

Lumiar is made to form autonomous students, capable of collaborating actively in a democratic society.

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Lumiar methodology was created 16 years ago by a group of pioneering educators, developing it as an initiative that intends to transform education around the world. The first school was born in Sao Paulo, and today the method is present in more than 10 schools, public and private, in Brazil, USA, and the Netherlands.

Lumiar methodology is original in the sense that it proposes and practices the concept of project-based learning as an instrument of inter-relation among students, and the search for their real interests. Knowledge is structured by identifying competencies and skills, including what would be “school subjects” inside projects, learning modules, workshops and other dynamics. In each project, the learning contemplates the related skills and knowledge areas, such as math, geopolitics, geography, chemistry, languages, etc.

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Their pedagogical practices are pillars that provide full development to each person.

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The methodology is founded on six pillars: Tutors and Masters, Mosaic Curriculum, Participatory Management, Multi-age Groups, Active Learning, and Integrated Assessment.

In practice, it can be translated into substituting the traditional teacher as knowledge detainer, for the tutor, who keeps track of the development of groups of students. This person is responsible for identifying the interests and abilities of each group, always offering tools that enable the creation and execution of projects that are based on these interests and inviting masters, which are specialists in various themes but not necessarily academics.

All decisions are discussed in assembly, held with all school components, as a form to generate autonomy and to find the best ways to generate each project and other situations that are part of the group’s quotidian.

The Digital Mosaic is key to Lumiar methodology, as it is a platform that contains planning modules and the mosaic curriculum divided into skills and contents. At Digital Mosaic, managers, educators, students, and parents can follow, register, and evaluate the processes that organize school life. To sum up, it is a pioneering intellectual technology that guides all the school organization through cycles, projects, and continuous assessment of each student, enabling participatory management, active learning,  and the critical reflection over their own development processes.

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The methodology with its 6 pillars:

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01 Mosaic Curriculum

The curriculum is turned into practice through different modalities, such as projects, workshops, research and other activities, along with the experience of the participatory management at the school. For the planning of these activities, we consider the interests of the students and their needs of learning and development, always including their active participation. The Competence and Content Matrices, coordinated through the Digital Mosaic platform, lay out the key skills and competencies the learners are developing at Lumiar, including critical thinking, communication, creativity, self-directed learning, and more.

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02 Tutor and Master

The teacher becomes the development mentor, which is called Tutor, and the projects are led by experts in the area of study, and they are called Masters. Together, Tutors and Masters work closely to develop the implementation of a learning project, while making sure that each student’s individual learning goals and needs are supported throughout the course of the project, as well as through their journey at the school.

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03 Multi-age groups

The enrichment of school life happens when students of different ages collaborate in one single environment, which creates the opportunity for students to learn and socialize amongst themselves as in real life. It means we don’t put grades in their development, allowing interactions and experience exchanges to unfold in a mutual and natural way.

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04Active Learning

Our Active Learning proposal aims at helping the student to mobilize and discover contents and abilities that are useful for their formation and active participation in society. With learners at the center, Active Learning promotes participatory and active construction of understanding through real world materials and experiences.This facilitates deeper learning, and mobilizes the learner as they discover their strengths and engagement with the larger world.

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05 Participatory Management

At Lumiar, pedagogical practices, social relations and the organization of daily school life are managed in a participatory way, involving all agents that are part of the day to day school experience: administrative team, pedagogical team and students. Everyone participates in the plans for the development and enrichment of the experience at school. We recreate inside the school what would be the expected functioning of a democratic society, in order to guide children and young people in their engagement with society, both in their present and in the future.

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06 Integrated Assessment

Our unique Mosaic curriculum demands an integrated assessment that is not merely classificatory, but that shows knowledge and skill development evidences. We go beyond questions and exams by questioning the level of knowledge and the ability to apply what has been learned in multiple ways, with the active participation of the learners who can reflect on their own performance.

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The digital Mosaic

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Lumiar methodology gains structure with the Digital Mosaic.

Digital Mosaic is Lumiar’s digital platform, an important part of our methodology, as it is what allows the learning management inside Lumiar’s practices, while also offering a revolutionary method to map and evaluate skills and contents. The Digital Mosaic was designed to fulfill the needs of our unique methodology, but all available functionalities can be used in learning environments that use modern methodologies such as PBL (Project-based Learning) or CBE (Competency-based Education).

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Mosaic Matrices 

Our curriculum is translated into Competence and Contents Matrices, which are presented in the circular mosaic format. This format frees the student from the traditional timeline that guides the knowledge acquisition, opening space for them to create their own way inside the curriculum. The mosaic matrices also allow educators and students to clearly see all the already acquired knowledge and those that need to be developed. Our platform brings not only the mosaic matrices but also does the management of all the learning activities that guarantee the development of the student.

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Project Development 

At Lumiar, most learning processes take place through projects, and the Digital Mosaic allows them to be created and developed in an organized and effective manner. Each project is born from the combination between the students’ interests and the learning necessities, which are mapped on the mosaic curriculum. Together, student, Tutor, and Master plan and develop the projects in the Digital Mosaic platform, detailing objectives, knowledge areas, participants, activities, sessions, and final products. Everything is mapped inside the platform, that connects each project with the specific knowledge that is being acquired through it.

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Digital Mosaic as a Hub 

The Digital Mosaic works as a hub that concentrates and connects all the fundamental elements of a modern education. We created a Hub of Masters, that connects students and schools with the best educators around the world. The Hub of Projects concentrates everything that was developed in our schools, generating an important reference pool that allows the creation of more creative and effective projects. The Digital Mosaic also works as a dynamic inventory of educational content, combining references, resources, practices, ideas, products, and masters around skills and contents.

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Digital Interactions & Personalization 

The Digital Mosaic allows that all students, Tutors, Masters, and managers stay in touch, forming an important educational global community. Learners from one country can develop projects in partnership with students from another place, they can book video sessions with masters around the world, bilingualism is developed in a practical manner through the various digital interactions enabled by the platform, and Lumiar students become global citizens through the contact with other realities and different people. It all happens without leaving behind the personalization of the learning process, as it gives space for each student to create their own path inside this global community

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A Digital Mosaic For Each One 

All of those who are part of the Lumiar community are also part of the Digital Mosaic. Managers, Tutors, Masters, students, and parents have access to the platform, where they can follow the development of school activities and the journey of each student inside the skills and contents matrices. Through the Digital Mosaic, managers are able to organize the school processes and activities, while guaranteeing the learning quality in their school.