MARÍA DEL PRADO MARTÍN-ONDARZA SANTOS

María del Prado Martín-Ondarza Santos is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the School of Education, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM). She holds a PhD from UCM with a thesis on the impact of cultural contexts, peer relationships, participation, and play in social and civic learning in Early Childhood Education (2022). Her research focuses on civic education, service-learning methodologies, play-based learning, and inclusive pedagogies. She has collaborated on projects integrating technology and community engagement to enhance educational spaces and ethical citizenship training. Key contributions include studies on pandemic effects on children’s play routines and the role of school environments in fostering civic values.

Education

• PhD in Education, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (2022)

Research Interests

Her work emphasizes the intersection of play, social development, and civic education. She explores how physical and virtual spaces can be designed to promote ethical reflection and community ties. Recent projects include service-learning initiatives to address educational inequalities and environmental awareness through school playground redesign.

Grants & Collaborations

• Co-developed a service-learning project with a geographically distant school to transform playgrounds into pedagogical tools (2020).
• Studied intergroup biases in teacher training through direct contact interventions (2022).

Labs/Teams

Active member of the 'CCyPE Cultura Cívica y Políticas Educativas' research group, focusing on civic culture and educational policies.