Abstract
The objective of the article is to present the most representative research led by the International Center for Didactics of History and Heritage of the University of Bologna with the participation of schools and teachers of all levels, and institutions and local authorities in the field didactic of history and heritage teaching. Specifically, it will analyse: the project called Roots to fly, where the scholars who have carried out research inherent to the heritage can expose their results and make proposals for the protection and enhancement to the leaders of the institutions appointed to these tasks; the European project STEP, which has developed a preschool and primary interdisciplinary curriculum to create relationship between children school experience and informal education; and, finally, research projects oriented to the perception of teachers in training and in service on the theme of heritage education for active citizenship.
TopBackground: Legal Situation And Relevant Italian And European Policies Regarding Active Citizenship
Faced with these questions and challenges, the European and international Institutions have constantly developed greater sensitivity, supporting and promoting declarations and conventions concerning culture, the tangible and intangible cultural heritage referring to the past and the present and which concerns all artistic expressions; and education, which, together with culture, constitutes the key component of all learning processes.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Jacques Le Goff: (1924-2014) a French medieval historian who devoted most of his research to his-torical anthropology, cultural history and the history of mentality; his work revolutionized the historical studies of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Passamano: The passing of objects from hand to hand by a chain of people.
Portico: a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls.
Portico di San Luca: A 3.8 km. long porticoed pathway which joins Bologna’s center to the Basilica of the Blessed Virgin. The first section of the portico (approximately 1.8 kms.) is flat; the second part however, which starts from the Melancello Arch goes uphill for two km. with an average gradient of 10.8%. It is over this last tract that, in 1677, the passing of construction materials for building the portico, the so-called, Passamano for San Luca, was first started and still continues to this day.
Heritage: Homogeneous and multiple combination of legacies and resources in which we see the joining together and cementing of characters, cultural heritage, environmental, historical-artistic and scientific knowledge, and ideals collected and shared by human communities in their diverse territorial environments.
Basilica della Beata Vergine di San Luca: A basilica dedicated to the Marian Catholic cult situated on Guardia Hill, a partly wooded spur, 300 meters above sea level lying to the south-west of Bologna’s historic center. It is an important sanctuary in the city’s history dating from its origins as a pilgrimage destination for worshipping the icon of the Virgin Mary with Child, called San Luca.
Bologna: Capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna Region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy; at it lies at the heart of a metropolitan area of about one million people.