VIRTUAL: Applying Education
Abstract
In a scenario of complexity we need new, more interconnected, strategies. In this sense, we present an experience of contamination for responding to specifc social problems through education. The widespread diffusion of educational poverty, not simply attributable to economical aspects, invokes news approaches, in order to reduce inequalities of opportunity, especially for the weakest subjects. Worldwide, in the last year, more than 70% of minors did not carry out some activities, including: going to theater or concert, visiting museums, archaeological sites or monuments, carrying out cultural activities. In this scenario, places of culture, museums in particular, can constitute a strategic guideline in the fight against educational poverty. We present an experience in which museums have been discovered as inclusive contexts, capable of hosting educational and aggregative activities for a special audience: families in a vulnerable situation, with children aged 0 to 6 years. This original access to museum contexts represents a strategic action both enhancing the cultural heritage and generating social inclusion. This project was tested in northern Italy, in Brescia, proclaimed the Italian capital of culture for 2023. Cultural and educational paths have been tested, aimed at contrasting inequalities through access to art. By means of “cultural explorations”, we have created experiences not based on passive uses, but rather on participatory approaches, allowing children (and parents) to actively produce and renew culture. Through the creation of a sort of “mobile laboratory” we tested an innovative tool for contrasting educational poverty in various types of museums: scientific, artistic, educational, historical.
Monica Amadini is Full Professor of Education – Faculty of Education, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Italy). She is Coordinator of the degree course Sciences of education and training processes, campus of Brescia. Since 2021 she is Director of the Research Center on Family and Childhood education (CeSPeFI) e since 2019 member of the Scientific Board of UNESCO Chair on “Education for Human Development and Solidarity among Peoples”. She is Director of the Scientific Series Childhood education – Editrice Scholé and she is member of scientific board of various scientific journals.