S.M.A.R.T.

Within the framework of the SPECIAL INTEGRATIVE FUND FOR RESEARCH (FISR) the Project idea S.M.A.R.T. of particular strategic importance is defined, aimed at addressing the new needs and issues raised by the spread of the SARS-Cov-2 virus and the Covid-19 infection, as requested by the Ministry of University and Research.  The epidemiological emergency calls for the rethinking of educational and training processes in schools and society, according to a multidimensional perspective.

S.M.A.R.T. School as World, Environment, Responsibility, and Territory. The careful Alliance for the Person proposes product, methodological and process solutions, related to the university and school context, with respect to the management of the reorganisation of educational activities and processes.

The project is located in the area of Social Sciences and Humanities.

In the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic, new educational methodologies are aimed at ensuring the right to study, the respect for safety and collective health (WHO, 1948, 2020), the inclusion of everyone, especially the most vulnerable among the 0-14-year-old child population: migrants, those affected by Specific Learning Disorders, children witnesses of domestic violence, unaccompanied minors. Lockdown deprived people of the freedom to interact with the natural environment. Let’s start again trying to implement the principle according to which the natural environment is essential for the development of the Person. We can get out of the “crisis” relaunching outdoor education.  We propose the path of education in nature, in continuity among summer centers – parental awareness – school education – teacher training.

The four dimensional systemic Model connects actors involved and educational realities in the area to realize Outdoor Education. It is a prototype training model, replicable on a national scale in a six months long experiment.

The path of “experience in situation” (symbolic interactionism, Goffman) allows the acquisition of transversal skills as dialogic education (Freire). The co-design starts from the agreement protocol between Universities, Municipalities, Non-profit Organizations, Schools of integrated summer centers. We intend to create a prototype model of reference also in the curricular field. Teacher support is foreseen to guide on-site observation for curricular programming on the Outdoor Education. Teacher training takes place in the context of the interdisciplinary specialization course on pedagogical, philosophical, anthropological, and methodological sciences. Outdoor sessions are planned to experiment and acquire methodological skills, enhancing an artistic and experiential approach. The teachers are selected according to criteria consistent with the project. In parallel, a training course is organized in support of parenting. The main objectives are: a) to heighten schools’ and teachers’ demand about open-air learning with the exploration of the surrounding natural environment; b) to support schools and teachers in designing outdoor experiential paths by using local spaces and helping them to insert them in the curricular educational offer; c) to create virtuous and efficient networks among public and private entities in order to project together high-quality educational paths outside classrooms in natural environments.

The “SmarTeam”, composed by specialists in Outdoor Education in Italy and abroad, educators, parents, teachers, principals who interact about their Outdoor Education experiences. For the purpose of the Project it has been structured a Master Course titled Moving with childhood from the Pizzigoni Fund to the world space between creativity and adventure for the formation of teachers and principals in a blended and interdisciplinary methodology, with design and application of outdoor school experimentation at their respective sites and experimentation in urban parks.