BETWEEN TENTS AND COMMUNITY: THE PEDAGOGICAL POWER OF EDUCATIONAL CAMPS

The book Between Tents and Coexistence: The Pedagogical Power of Educational Camps presents educational camping as a formative experience in natural settings where coexistence, playfulness, and challenge (overnight stays, cooperation, discipline, and connection with nature) become pedagogical resources. After defining the concept and its benefits—self-esteem, self-confidence, creativity, environmental care, and meaningful use of free time—it develops a reference framework that links camping to educational experiences with strong potential to foster values (respect, tolerance, solidarity) and socio-emotional competencies.

The work is grounded in qualitative research using an intrinsic case-study design in public schools in Villavicencio (Instituto Técnico Industrial, Colegio Nacionalizado Femenino, Juan Pablo II, and Guillermo Niño Medina), drawing on semi-structured interviews and documentary review. Through triangulation, it examines how learning structures enacted during camps influence the development of social skills. Findings show that, although teamwork is encouraged through patrol groups and leadership roles, practice tends to be dominated by a competitive logic (with intragroup cooperation and intergroup competition), which can hinder the full consolidation of cooperative learning. Even so, students and teachers report positive effects on coexistence, responsibility, tolerance, and understanding others, and they recommend camping as a meaningful curricular alternative for Physical Education, integrating physical, cognitive, and axiological dimensions.