A “Bottega Didattica” for an Inclusive School

Introduction

The project, Bottega della Comunicazione e della Didattica¹ in the care of the Ufficio Scolastico Regionale per la Campania², is at first aimed (in the year 1999) against school dropout, and develops in a semi-suburban area of Naples (Italy) with several social problems.

It’s addressed to the schools of the area, where teachers implement a mainly explanatory education, focused on the whole class and with a particular attention to taxonomic planning, organized in non-communicating disciplines. That leads to a linear teaching and ignores creativity, motivation, learning style, individual characteristic and the connections between school and what the student already knows.

Up until 2010, many schools in the region joined this project over a number of years. This included primary and secondary schools, as well as evening courses, and also university courses. Students and teachers in training courses have all joined this project, according to the activities in the different fields of intervention.

The external institutions with which the project has developed relations over the years are:

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  The ITI “A. Righi e VIII” of Naples, which has given the Bottega hospitality for ten years;

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  The ENIS Network (European Network Innovative Schools), coordinated in Italy by the General Directorate of Information Systems of the MIUR, the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research;

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  The Institute of Didactic Technologies of the CNR (National Council of Research)³ of Genoa, which in the beginning supervised the experimentation;

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  The Department of Education of the Municipality of Naples and the Department of Education Policies of the Province of Naples, which on several occasions financed some activities.

The project, currently (2012) is being implemented in several Neapolitan schools who share the methodological, educational and technological approach of the Bottega that, now is a non-profit Association (ONLUS) (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

The Bottega map

The project aimed to contribute to significantly to knowledge transformation, trying to make the process of teaching/learning more exciting, more engaging and more responsive to the demands of the knowledge economy in Europe.

Specific aims are the following:

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  Transform the role of the teacher,

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  Allow new organizations of the school environment,

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  Make it more familiar to children, digital natives, the school, with its content and tools,

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  Promote communication,

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  Promote learning rather than teaching

Tools that have been used:

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  Brainstorming

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  Different learning styles and multiple intelligences

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  Concept maps

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  Cooperative learning

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  Use of ICT and digital culture

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  Search the Internet

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  Production of multimedia

Resources that have been exploited:

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  Coordinator: The task of coordination, relations with teachers, schools and other educational and pedagogical agencies; manages the educational aspect of the website www.bottegacd.it,

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  External Experts: Occasionally collaborate on specific issues,

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  Teachers: Care about teaching activities of their classes, experimenting with an interdisciplinary education based on projects, and not a sectorial one divided into individual disciplines.