Experiential approach complements traditional learning

(MissionNewswire) The Salesian Mary Help of Christians School in Milan, Italy, has become an open-air school, an innovative teaching method that uses the entire city as a place of learning. The idea stems from a desire to trace the origins of subjects back to real life, making lessons a more immersive and stimulating experience.

Teachers arrange to meet students at various locations around the city, transforming squares, historic corners and the premises of local organizations into settings in which to explore the subject matter.

For example, the poet Alda Merini comes to life as her verses are read by the banks of the Naviglio canal where she once lived. Sound waves reveal their characteristics after being recorded with an app at a busy junction, and a sociological study begins by interviewing the real commuters on the blue metro line.

One teacher said, “The experiences finally engage the body, which is largely excluded from traditional teaching. We walk, explore and connect with places that may already be familiar, which reveal surprising aspects.”

The head teacher, Cristina Merli, explained, “In an age of the dematerialization of objects and relationships, we believe it is right that the school should present itself as a place for engaging with reality, a training ground where we can experience together the enthusiasm and also the friction that this contact provokes.”

Some lessons will continue to take place in the classroom with books and at desks. The classroom remains a prime place for concentration. The aim of the project is not to replace it, but to complement it with this new experiential approach. The teachers have set themselves a target with a third of lessons to take place outside the school walls.

The students taking part have received a nomadic school kit, which contains a thermos for hot drinks, hardback notebooks for taking notes away from their desks and a folding cushion.

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Sources:

ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)

ANS – Italy – There is a school in Milan that uses the city as its classroom

Salesian Missions – Italy

World Bank – Italy