The youngest scientists: Teacher Marianela Carrapizo about Alforja for young children

2025-04-24

Teacher Marianela Carrapizo first encountered the Alforja (Educational Saddlebag) in 2016 during a socio-environmental health conference in Rosario, Argentina. The presentation of the material immediately captured her interest. Although it was initially intended for older children, Marianela decided to adapt it to her context as a teacher for younger children.

In 2018, teacher Marianela Carrapizo presented a project to ReAct Latin America based on her experience at the “Semillita” Municipal Kindergarten with 5-year-olds. With her growing experience in both education and environmental advocacy, Marianela began rethinking how even the youngest children could explore complex scientific ideas.

The challenge was significant: talking about microorganisms with the little ones. At first, it was viewed with skepticism by colleagues and administrators as too abstract for young children. However, the results were not long in coming, with the support of the educational community. With the arrival of the pandemic in 2020, their work took on even more meaning: talking about bacteria, viruses and health from the early years was not only possible, but urgent.

The comprehensive perspective: The pedagogical value of Alforja

One of the aspects highlighted by Marianela was the fact that Alforja takes a broad view of health, connecting air, soil, water, and the human body. This allowed the “microbial” world, as the children called it, to be explored in all its complexity and beauty.

To achieve this, Marianela combined various strategies: from Alforja titles and stories to role-playing games such as “the imaginary laboratory” with modeling clay and test tubes. Before showing real bacteria, the children modeled them from their imaginations. When they finally viewed them under a microscope, they were surprised to see how similar they were to what they had created. Everything began with play and then moved to the scientific method, encouraging hypothesis formulation, observation, and verification.

The children took swab samples and cultured them in Petri dishes, observed yogurt bacteria under a microscope, and learned to differentiate between cocci and bacilli through visual associations with everyday objects like a ball and a stick.

“The invisible became fascinating,”

says Marianela.

This shift in perception helped make science feel accessible — even exciting — for very young children.

From the classroom to the home: Children who teach

One of the most striking revelations of the project was the impact it had outside the kindergarten. Families began to notice changes in their children’s daily behaviors. The children asked their parents not to give them over-the-counter medications, talked about the importance of visiting the doctor, and explained how bacteria spread. Some even replicated what they had learned at home, washing their hands conscientiously, avoiding self-medication, and explaining what an antibiotic was.

“Those were our assessment standards,”

Marianela says excitedly. She continues:

“The schoolchildren telling their parents: Don’t give me that, let’s go to the doctor first,’ confirmed that the message had gotten across. They had appropriated the knowledge and were passing it on.”

Instead of assessing with tests or written assignments, Marianela proposed something different: having the children share what they learned with others. They prepared presentations for classmates from other classrooms, shared their discoveries, and even participated in a provincial forum on climate change. Far from taking the microphone as a teacher, Marianela handed it over to her students.

“They were the real protagonists. Those who knew the most, those who could share what we had really experienced,”

Marianela says.

Recommendations for other educators

Based on her experience, Marianela encourages other teachers to take on these topics, even if they seem complex. She recommends approaching them through creativity, interdisciplinarity, and, above all, listening to the children’s voices. She emphasizes that health education must begin with play, exploration of the environment, and active child participation.

Her experience didn’t end there: subsequent projects included the use of yogurt as a prebiotic food and the study of microorganisms in a compost bin, and even visit to a professional laboratory, thanks to a partnership with a local foundation. In all cases, the children replicated what they learned at home, acting as true edu-communicators.

An experience that continues to grow

Marianela’s work continued with new initiatives, such as the study of yogurt as a prebiotic food or the analysis of microorganisms in the garden compost bin. This project was especially enriching thanks to the collaboration of Professor Carla Avellaneda and, in particular, of Lic. Karina Nieuwenhove of the Miguel Lillo Foundation. Thanks to their support, the children were able to access the foundation’s laboratory and observe samples using high-precision professional microscopes. This experience not only expanded their knowledge but also made them feel like true scientists, capable of discovering the mysteries of the invisible world for themselves.

Marianela’s work shows that meaningful health education doesn’t need to wait — it can start early, and it can be powerful. When we trust in children’s ability to understand and communicate, extraordinary things happen: they not only learn, but they teach. To their peers, to their families, to society.