Built with Bits – an educational challenge: best New European Bauhaus project

Congratulations on your success in Built with Bits! Can you tell us about your institution?

I teach Italian, History, Geography and Latin at the IIS Leonardo da Vinci of Lanusei, an institution in the province of Ogliastra which includes all the high schools of Lanusei. It is a very dynamic institution, characterised by the attention paid to developing teaching staff and the enriching training it offers. The institute is also at the forefront of technological innovation and foreign exchange projects. 

Why did you apply to take part in Built with Bits?

My aim was to learn a new teaching tool. Since technologies and virtual worlds are more and more present, it is fundamental that students are not only passive users, but learn to master them. Building a virtual space in line with the principles of the New European Bauhaus has been a great opportunity to learn something totally new and discover Europeana's extraordinary wealth of content. All this in a context of comparison and collaboration with colleagues from other countries.

Tell us about your winning entry!

'Una nuova vita per La Sughereta', the virtual space I developed with my students, class 1 B Scientific, represents an idea for the redevelopment of La Sughereta, an urban park in Tortolì (Ogliastra). It explores a way to make better use of it and rethink its function through its conversion into an environmental education centre. The centre would welcome schools and visitors, raising awareness of respect for the environment, the objectives of the 2030 Agenda and the importance of protecting biodiversity. 

We imagined modifying the existing buildings in the park and putting them to a different use. The Environmental Education Centre consists of a central space (entrance, fountain and info point) from which there is access (via a link) to four different areas: a school with two classrooms where the goals of the 2030 Agenda are explored; a pavilion ‘Water is Life’ on aquatic environments; a pavilion dedicated to biodiversity in the Ogliastra region (with resources from Europeana); and a city farm in which students and visitors can see the farm animals, cultivated and spontaneous plants. 

How did the programme deepen your understanding of the New European Bauhaus?

The program was enlightening because my students and I thought about how to design a virtual space under the principles of the New European Bauhaus. We started by observing the reality in which we live and we imagined how to make it more beautiful, inclusive and sustainable. It was important to think that their ideas can help to imagine and realise a better world.

What do you think is the value of using digital cultural heritage and immersive technologies in education?  

Education promoting knowledge and enhancement of cultural heritage and intercultural dialogue, represents, increasingly, a strategic resource for contributing, through digital, to the creation of new ways of sharing knowledge. It also gives meaning to the 'project' of Europe so important for the future of the community. Educating young people in the beauty of art and history is the key to building a future of respect for different cultures and points of view.

Given that 2022 is the European Year of Youth, have you considered other ways to engage students and young people with your winning project?

I think it would be great to involve other classes of the school and guide them (using peer to peer methodology) in a common civic education path aimed at contributing to our virtual space and integrating it with other projects for the redevelopment of urban areas of our towns. And then, to be able to collect all the projects in a web page themed 'Imagined Cities'. Who knows: it could be a source of inspiration for the administrators of the municipalities in which we live.

We would love to hear from your students directly - what was the most valuable thing that they learned from the programme?

My pupils had lots of positive feedback! Aurora, Melissa and Nicola said, ‘Thanks to this project we have worked together, learned and discovered a lot of new information with the Europeana and Mozilla platforms, experimenting for the first time with the construction of a virtual space.’

Iris said, ‘I learned that working together can improve your abilities in everything’, while Simone shared that, ‘I learned better to use Europena as an indispensable research source.’ 

Giuly said that, ‘I have learned that inquiring about news concerning our present and future is important, because in a few years it will be up to our generation to manage the problem of pollution and climate changes’, something which Marta also noted: ‘We have broadened our knowledge on a climate change. This made us work together, become more united and introduced us to new things in a productive and funny way.’

Mirko shared, ‘Thanks to this project I learned how to check and respect copyright when researching images on the internet and to use design programs such as Mozilla Spoke’, and Gabriele and Lorenzo wrote, ‘It was really great to participate in the creation of virtual worlds’. 

Fabiana said, ‘I learned many new things such as identifying copyright-respecting content, collaborating with my classmates, and I deepened my knowledge regarding contents of the 2030 Agenda and the New European Bauhaus. Matteo says,’I gained new information regarding copyright and learned to collaborate even more with my peers. I would like to thank Europeana for giving the opportunity to work on this interesting and original project.’