Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

I bambini sono il presente e il futuro sostenibile. In un contesto socioculturale in continuo cambiamento e definizione, come può il Reggio Emilia Approach (REA) ascoltare e dare voce alle idee di bambini e adulti? Il contributo presenta un percorso di ricerca all’interno del progetto «Crescere Insieme» promosso da Save the Children e Fondazione Reggio Children, grazie al sostegno del gruppo Credem. I bambini e i genitori sono entrati in contatto con il mondo naturale attraverso ˝l’intelligenza˝ degli strumenti esplorando e comprendendone il valore ecologico, estetico e sociale (Orr, 2014, Kriss et al., 2017). Attraverso un ciclo di progettazioni, osservazioni, valutazioni (Lewin cit. in Mortari, 2019) e riflessioni si sono resi possibili lo scambio formativo e la costruzione di una relazione ecologica tra i partecipanti. I focus group e la documentazione pedagogica evidenziano come gli educatori, sostenendo la qualità delle relazioni, riconoscano i bambini come attivi costruttori del proprio sapere. Per i genitori, invece, il progetto è stato un incontro inaspettato con la natura. Il contributo sostiene come, anche i contesti non formali, possano supportare e costruire relazioni interdipendenti tra persone, esseri viventi e non viventi, affinché si instaurino nuove «trame di sostenibilità» (Birbes, 2017).

Reggio Emilia, Italy, has a rich history of wine production dating back to the 15th century. However, the global wine industry discards around 42 million tonnes of grapevine cuttings each year by burying or burning them on farms, leading to wasteful practices (Ellis, 2020). This inspired two PhD students with diverse backgrounds to raise awareness of the cultural significance of grapevine leaves in various communities in Reggio Emilia. They argue that grapevine leaves are not only a byproduct of winemaking but also an essential ingredient in many cultures, including immigrant communities, and how this practice aligns with food sustainability and cultural identity. The study draws on the Reggio Emilia Approach to food education, which highlights the importance of food as a medium for learning and explores the power of dialogue and negotiation in constructing meaning. Mealtimes, according to educators in Reggio Emilia, are moments for socializing, expressing cultural identities, and learning new skills and knowledge ((Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 1998; Rinaldi, 2005) The researchers used autoethnography to demonstrate how grape leaves are used and their cultural significance in different contexts. They interviewed local farmers and communities and held workshops on making Dolma, a dish enjoyed by many nationalities, using grapevine leaves (Dogan et al., 2017). The study emphasizes the power of dialogue and negotiation in constructing meaning and recognizes the interconnectedness between plants and humans in our food experiences and cultural understanding. The findings have significant implications for food education, sustainable practices, and cultural significance in Reggio Emilia and other communities globally (Ozturk, 2022), highlighting the importance of collaboration between individuals from diverse backgrounds in promoting sustainable practices and fostering cultural understanding.

The research we present here has as its theoretical framework the relationship between education and nature promoted by Monica Guerra (2018) and Beate Weyland's interdisciplinary studies dealing with playful and sensory interaction with plants (Weyland 2022). Through the approach of Ethnobotany (Caneva, 2013), the reresearchers investigated on the relationship of a community of children, parents and teachers with plants. Moreover, this interconnection seems to influence their lives and culture. In particular, it is proposed to trace how the relationship developed by children and adults with plants sustains various 'oral traditions and expressions, including language as a vehicle of intangible cultural heritage' (UNESCO, 2003). Research confirms that it is essential for humans to learn to establish relationships with nature to improve their wellbeing and personal skills (Sumana Roy 2022; Lucy Jones 2020, Raith and Lude 2017). The aim of this research and educational practice, is to highlight a 'green biography' that emphasises the importance of learning, understanding and knowing through nature in order to relate to context, space, objects, memories and living beings. In this study, we present data collected in a primary classroom with 9-year-old children through conversations and interviews. The thematic analyses reveal the possibility of developing diverse and beneficial relationships with the natural world. Green memories support a new kind of re-connection with their children and school. The discussion focusses on the goal of using green biographies to introduce a new educational approach that stimulates awareness about the holistic essence of human being in connection with nature.

The aim of this work is to explore the educational space as a place resonating of harmony, beauty and curiosity, a living space (Rinaldi, 2009), where the different proposed activities allow natural learning processes in a multisensory and interactive flow. The space strongly influences human interactions (Danon, 2019), as an active player in the evolutionary and learning process (Fanelli et al., 2006), and as a “third educator” (Edwards et al, 2017) participating in the construction of knowledge. Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030) and the UNESCO report 2021 confirm the importance of adopting different educational strategies to enhance the concept of sustainability. The vast existing literature confirms the interdependence among living beings, the animal and the vegetable worlds, “something you forgot about, precisely because it’s working” (Morton, 2018). Plants, both for their behaviors, analyzed by neurobiology (Mancuso, 2013, Paco Calvo, 2022, Trewavas, 2019), and for the psychophysical wellbeing (Ulrich, 1981) that they transmit, assume a crucial role in learning about vital processes. In 2019 Fondazione Reggio Children, in collaboration with The LEGO Foundation launched the research project scintillae - play and learning in the digital age, which is also a physical space at the Loris Malaguzzi International Centre based in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Scintillae, gives to children and adults the opportunity to experiment playful learning activities both inter and multidisciplinary. As part of the “Scuola diffusa” project, promoted by Officina educativa of Reggio Emilia Municipality, scintillae started some collaborations with state primary schools. Co-designing with teachers, pedagogista, educators and researchers, has led to identifying some themes of possible further research starting from the idea of transformation in movement. The investigation of movement went through aspects related to the body, digital tools and plant world, allowing children to explore and make hypotheses on what they could perceive and theorize from their research into these interweavings between digital and analog. This article analyzes what emerged from children’s explorations on the dialog between plants and digital tools. The research has a qualitative approach based on pedagogical documentation which kept track of interpretative processes of children and teachers, continuously reflecting on their learnings through different languages: writing, graphics, images, texts, stories, videos. These traces tell, narrate and give value to constant research, so that the elements can emerge in a “generative encounter” (Guerra, 2020). A kind of documentation supporting learning as it makes visible how children perceive the complexity of the vital network and strengthen their innate emotional, social and ecological intelligence (Goleman et al., 2017). This experimentation has highlighted how a “rich” context can encourage childrens’ argumentative ability and their natural scientific thinking on their own evolutionary processes (Gardner, 2010; Corridoni, 2019). The results show how children understand, helped by digital tools, the vital processes of plants and the similarities between living beings. This paper would like to activate new areas of investigation on plants’ slow growing processes and interdependent networks and open up the possibility to deepen ecological themes in Italian school curricula.

In un processo culturale di ripensamento delle interazioni fra soggetto, vivente e ambiente (D’Antone, 2018), la pedagogia ecologica offre l’opportunità di creare spunti per una nuova ottica di riflessione sistemica. L’intento è di creare un dialogo sulla relazione tra uomo e ambiente in connessione col mondo biologico, sviluppando un’educazione che punti verso un futuro apprezzabile, vivibile e pensabile per le nuove generazioni (UNESCO, 2021). L'idea è di co-progettare, con gli attori principali della scuola, un ambiente tracciando delle memorie vive , attraverso un’osservazione etnobotanica che studia e documenta sia le modalità come una popolazione locale utilizza la natura, sia quelle in cui essa viene percepita e categorizzata (Pieroni et al., 2013). In questo “Giardino Etnobotanico” si cercherà di attribuire al vivente un’identità e un legame emotivo (Freud, in Farné, 2018), offrendo nuovi alfabeti ecologici (Marchetti, 2012), e sviluppando un nuovo immaginario ecologico e culturale. In conclusione, il progetto intende discutere e sperimentare contesti di apprendimento capaci di promuovere connessioni con presenze vive del mondo naturale, coltivando semi di pensiero ecologico (Mortari, 2020) che favoriscano l’ascolto e una sensibilità ecologica (Guerra, 2020), attraverso le diverse forme dell’apprendimento (Weyland, 2022).