- Docente: Paolo Donati
- Credits: 3
- Language: Italian
- Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
- Campus: Bologna
- Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Educator In Childhood Social Services (cod. 8775)
Learning outcomes
At the end of the lab course participants will be able to :- apply specific techniques either autonomously or through institutionally scheduled activities;- confront other subjects on how to handle the techniques they have acquired and consult documentary material;- utilize specific scientific notions in different types of service;- assess merits and limits of the technical know-hows they now possess;- make them flexible and applicable to other contexts.
Course contents
Natural Education in Services to Children
The lab main aim is to favour in participants the growth and development of a serene, curious, collaborative attitude towards nature, a condition of fundamental importance for the educator intending to follow up children in the experience of exploration and discovery of the natural reality surrounding us.
The project aims at alternating outdoor activities in the area of Villa Ghigi Park and the River Reno banks , and classroom meetings.
While the former will provide full immersion in nature and direct interaction with the environment, helping create a personal relationship with plants, animals, land and water, the latter will offer an opportunity to question about teaching methods, performance and best instruments to reinforce the child’s natural inclination to interact with nature and its elements, and guide the learning process through the services offered.
The pathway indicated above finds the collaboration of Michela Schenetti, regular researcher at the Educational Sciences Dpt. “Giovanni Maria Bertin”.
Key Words: nature, planning, exploration, autonomy, confidence.
Readings/Bibliography
Schenetti M., Donati P., Sguardi nel verde: quando l'educazione incontra la natura; in L'osservazione al nido: una lente a più dimensioni per educare lo sguardo; a cura di Lucia Balduzzi e Tiziana Pironi. Franco Angeli editore, 2017
Bortolotti A., Schenetti M.,Numero Monografico sull’Outdoor Education, Rivista Infanzia, 2015
Gray P., Lasciateli giocare, ed. Einaudi, 2015
Comune di Bologna, Fondazione Villa Ghigi; Per restituire la natura ai nostri bambini. Linee guida per la realizzazione di piccoli interventi naturali nei giardini dei nidi e delle scuole dell'infanzia di Bologna, 2015
Monica Guerra; Fuori. Suggestioni nell'incontro tra educazione e natura, Franco Angeli editore 2015
David George Haskell, La foresta nascosta. Un anno trascorso ad osservare la natura, Einaudi edizioni, 2014
Teaching methods
The lab is based on an alternation of field work ( Villa Ghigi Park, River Reno banks) - having an essentially practical character - and classroom meetings.
In case of bad weather meetings will take place inside the Palazzino, a structure seat of Villa Ghigi Foundation within the Park by the same name.
For outdoor visits warm, comfortable, easy-to-clean clothing and footwear are recommended.
Assessment methods
The lab does not include a final test, but the quality of students’ participation and involvement in both outdoor and indoor activities will be constantly under control.
Teaching tools
Natural areas and tools
Textbooks to be analyzed and commented
Short videos and images documenting educational experiences in contact with nature.
Office hours
See the website of Paolo Donati