TREECONNECT
Basic information
Project Title
TREECONNECT
Full project title
MAGICAL TREES - TREECONNECT
Category
Reconnecting with nature
Project Description
This groundbreaking initiative revolves around reconnecting with nature through the trees, aiming to open the minds and hearts of students and all citizens to embrace our shared natural heritage. Through interactive workshops, we're fostering respect for the environment in and around school communities. Our strategy extends beyond the classroom, delving into the cultural, historical, and folkloric tapestry of resident communities.
Geographical Scope
Regional
Project Region
Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Urban or rural issues
It addresses urban-rural linkages
Physical or other transformations
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
EU Programme or fund
No
Description of the project
Summary
The themes of this initiative spring forth from education, opening the eyes and minds and hearts of students to respecting the common natural heritage and landscape and care for places, through interactive and cross curricular, hands-on workshops taking place in and around school communities. This strategy will spread the knowledge of the cultural identities and historical, musical and folkloric traditions that characterize the resident communities and reactivate the local historical memory through the testimonies of the history of the place and its territory within the community dimension. Through in-depth study of anthropological and scientific aspects that restore the trees’ significance as a community asset, helping to recognize different tree species, their benefits to the environment and the ecosystem that include we humans will be explored. Reaching out, we have opened this initiative to all members of the community, making it accessible to anyone who wants to participate, with special attention to protected categories and teens, who are usually not involved in local initiatives, with the end goal of creating a virtuous network among nonprofits, schools, libraries and institutions, dealing with the relevant CEAS (Center for Education to Environmental Sustainability) and the Emilia-Romagna Romagna Heritage offices.
Key objectives for sustainability
The project is designed to establish a powerful network between institutions, schools and organizations. Each activity and each event reaches out, like the sturdy roots of the ancient trees, deeply and broadly to connect. For instance, there is a series of events where literature teachers choose readings that have to do with the natural world with the goal to raise awareness of sustainability, conscious consumption and care for creation as an asset to be protected. All are invited, and because the readings are at libraries and along the streets of the city, all feel welcomed. The activities and celebrations like ride bikes connecting the giant trees (30km), guided tours, concerts, and traditional dances clearly activate positive cycles of relationships among not only the citizens, but the broader community at large. Creation of a lasting network of synergies through inter-municipal agreements between associations and project partner entities, enables the fulfillment of the goals and objectives through the planned initiatives, and triggers further projects, multiplying their positivity and benefits for the territory in the medium-long term. Corporations, private businesses and donors sponsor the initiative because they believe it is an opportunity to not only contribute to their local place, but additionally to build a reputation as those committed to creating a vibrant, unified, welcoming community to their suppliers, employees and customers.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
During the first activity, the children surrounded the large tree in the garden of the "E. Fermi" elementary school in Voltana in a strong spiral embrace that allowed them, in the mid-morning silence, to listen to the rustling of the leaves and, on a typical autumn day, without the hindrance of the sun's reflections, to observe with upward glances the deep yellow color of the leaves. Afterwards, during the reflection circle, child after child shared that this experience gave them new eyes to see, a gaze of curiosity and wonder, and one added that they liked “hugging trees because it relaxes me.”
Children gather at libraries in the urban and rural areas around Lugo for multiple meetings. They are called to imagine what the trees have seen throughout their lives and draw it on fallen leaves as if they were canvas. They draw the shape of the leaves or the birds or insects that make up the ecosystem of the tree over the various seasons. Specifically, they are asked to draw the three giant trees that are the subject of the project. Each session begins by reading a story set around a tree and narrated by illustrator Irene Penazzi, who then leads the workshop. Afterwards, the children trundle home, clasping their masterpieces in their happy hands, to share with friends and family alike.
In preparation for yet another activity the students spent several days searching for suitable leaves, both around the plexus and outside the school. They were tasked with creating autumn portraits starting from their own caricature, to be later adorned with dried autumn leaves. One student commented that the experience helped her see herself as part of nature, adorned with wild beauty, and that trees are “magical because they color the leaves with warm colors.”
Critical consciousness develops as students make sense of the natural world within the context of these components of places, and use their knowledge of the natural world to re-imagine these places in the future.
Children gather at libraries in the urban and rural areas around Lugo for multiple meetings. They are called to imagine what the trees have seen throughout their lives and draw it on fallen leaves as if they were canvas. They draw the shape of the leaves or the birds or insects that make up the ecosystem of the tree over the various seasons. Specifically, they are asked to draw the three giant trees that are the subject of the project. Each session begins by reading a story set around a tree and narrated by illustrator Irene Penazzi, who then leads the workshop. Afterwards, the children trundle home, clasping their masterpieces in their happy hands, to share with friends and family alike.
In preparation for yet another activity the students spent several days searching for suitable leaves, both around the plexus and outside the school. They were tasked with creating autumn portraits starting from their own caricature, to be later adorned with dried autumn leaves. One student commented that the experience helped her see herself as part of nature, adorned with wild beauty, and that trees are “magical because they color the leaves with warm colors.”
Critical consciousness develops as students make sense of the natural world within the context of these components of places, and use their knowledge of the natural world to re-imagine these places in the future.
Key objectives for inclusion
Gazing at an ancient tree, with its gnarled branches reaching up, up into the sky does not cost money. This tree is both affordable and accessible. This giant oak is here, for everyone, as it has been for over a century, and yet, there is still so much to be learned by one and all, as we learn to see with fresh understanding. Teaching science helps promote justice. Science is a leverage point because it provides tools for inquiry about the natural world, and also provides knowledge about the ways in which human society depends on the natural world. Justice-first science teaching requires reckoning with the many inequities present in society and also the relationships between people and the natural world. Science provides a toolkit and a foundation for supporting these deeper critical aims. Teachers provide all students with safe and supportive access to the outdoors, ensure that projects are designed with multiple modalities for engagement, share background information at varying reading/language literacy levels, as well as include varied ways for all students to participate in peer discussions, opening up all of their lives to new experiences. Using team building activities creates a sense of community that draws students in and builds trust. Outdoor experiences provide a rich learning context for students, and it makes learning relevant to students’ personal experiences and include ways to connect to their communities, who in turn are invigorated and inspired to reconsider their relationship with the natural world and with each other.
Results in relation to category
Firstly, it fostered a sense of environmental responsibility and appreciation for the shared natural heritage among the communities of towns involved.
We engaged several teachers to explore different pedagogical methods and brought the students and citizens new awareness regarding the natural heritage of the town.
We established a network of institutional and private partners that will deepen their relationships as we are aiming to proceed with other similar projects.
We engaged several teachers to explore different pedagogical methods and brought the students and citizens new awareness regarding the natural heritage of the town.
We established a network of institutional and private partners that will deepen their relationships as we are aiming to proceed with other similar projects.
How Citizens benefit
A groundswell of engagement has been unfurling from the rich soil of an ancient heritage built upon savory traditions and swirling song. For six years, the Lugo Music Festival has been promoting a culture committed to societal well-being, growth, and social integration, followed by an audience from 0-99 years old, now nearly 5000 strong. The folk executing the instruction includes 19 classes, 12 teachers, 4 schools and 634 students spread from the urban center of Lugo out into the rural countryside. This network of synergies and intermunicipal agreements between associations and project partners has enabled the fulfillment of goals and objectives and triggered further projects looking into the future. What are these goals and objectives? Activation of memory and awareness referring to one's natural heritage, rediscovering traditions and stories related to the inhabitants of one's local area, whether they are past or present, and then most importantly, carrying this spirit of collaboration and commitment to nourish beauty and life for future generations.
Ancient magical trees are the rooted foundation of this education initiative designed to open the minds and hearts of students to see with new eyes their shared natural heritage through interactive, place-based workshops. The entire community is invited into this joyous journey, as together we explore the ecosystem around them as well as their common historic and folkloric traditions. Together, we commit to a spirit of collaboration to nourish beauty and life for future generations.
Ancient magical trees are the rooted foundation of this education initiative designed to open the minds and hearts of students to see with new eyes their shared natural heritage through interactive, place-based workshops. The entire community is invited into this joyous journey, as together we explore the ecosystem around them as well as their common historic and folkloric traditions. Together, we commit to a spirit of collaboration to nourish beauty and life for future generations.
Physical or other transformations
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Innovative character
The Magical Trees does indeed open up a wide door to a magical world of learning, far from the hum drum stack of worksheets and sitting quietly in one’s seat while someone explains point by point the facts they are to memorize.
Suddenly learning is multidisciplinary, measuring the shapes of leaves and pods, investigating online the first and last names of the plants right outside their window, splashing bright paint on leaves and pressing them into patterns, and writing reflections on how trees are magical because they “hide secrets, like birds’ nests.”
And these same trees have been here for decades, arching limbs over so many footsteps and stories, stories that need to be passed down to the next generation, by a now elderly man who remembers fleeing as bombs rained down on his home. Invitations are extended to experts who have never trod the territory to dialogue and lead in-depth discussions with the students through Q&A. And the traditional folk dances and the classical concerts are all part of the history of this place-based learning.
From this bonding threads visions for the future are cast. Learning is purposeful and empowering. Students gather information to start the protection process for these ancient giants, and create databases as tools for the territory to enhance the value of its cultural heritage.
The knowledge they gain through this process is deeply rooted in the place they explored and studied. This knowledge helps them deepen their connection with their place, and, most critically, change their mind, or others’ minds, on the basis of evidence. Reasoning from evidence implies students learn to accept or reject an idea based on whether or not the idea is supported by data. This process allows students to develop a sense of humility and engagement regarding the process of learning and growing into deeper understanding of their calling as changemakers.
Suddenly learning is multidisciplinary, measuring the shapes of leaves and pods, investigating online the first and last names of the plants right outside their window, splashing bright paint on leaves and pressing them into patterns, and writing reflections on how trees are magical because they “hide secrets, like birds’ nests.”
And these same trees have been here for decades, arching limbs over so many footsteps and stories, stories that need to be passed down to the next generation, by a now elderly man who remembers fleeing as bombs rained down on his home. Invitations are extended to experts who have never trod the territory to dialogue and lead in-depth discussions with the students through Q&A. And the traditional folk dances and the classical concerts are all part of the history of this place-based learning.
From this bonding threads visions for the future are cast. Learning is purposeful and empowering. Students gather information to start the protection process for these ancient giants, and create databases as tools for the territory to enhance the value of its cultural heritage.
The knowledge they gain through this process is deeply rooted in the place they explored and studied. This knowledge helps them deepen their connection with their place, and, most critically, change their mind, or others’ minds, on the basis of evidence. Reasoning from evidence implies students learn to accept or reject an idea based on whether or not the idea is supported by data. This process allows students to develop a sense of humility and engagement regarding the process of learning and growing into deeper understanding of their calling as changemakers.
Disciplines/knowledge reflected
The main objective of this initiative was to reconnect the youth and their community to the natural and cultural heritage, both broadly and deeply. The path chosen was that of through interactive cross-curricular, place-based educational workshops taking place in and around school communities. These workshops included scientific in-depth study of anthropological and biological aspects that restored the trees’ significance as a community asset, helped to recognize different tree species and their benefits to the environment and the ecosystem that include we humans. The workshops also utilized the cultural identities and historical, musical and folkloric traditions that characterize the resident communities, and gathered people together to build historical memory through the testimonies of the history of the place within the community dimension. All were invited, and events were intentionally inclusive, accessible to anyone who wanted to participate with special attention to protected categories and teens who are usually not involved in local initiatives. A generous network was created among the nonprofits, schools, libraries, and institutions, as well as connections with the relevant CEAS (Center for Education to Environmental Sustainability) and the Emilia-Romagna Romagna Heritage offices. All of these disciplines and peoples were woven together to create a beautiful natural and cultural tapestry of art shows, literature readings, guided tours for slow tourism, concerts, traditional dances and even 30KM bike rides which brought in sports associations to enhance and promote sustainable mobility. Each became aware of both the value and impact of themself, the engaged individual, as well as power of community committed to a sustainable future.
Methodology used
Place-based, outdoor teaching uses local places to draw upon and guide scientific and social concepts, centering the learner’s experience in inquiry. It motivates students to engage with learning and develops their critical consciousness. By rooting teaching in the natural world through local places, teachers can connect to students’ experiences, identities, and values, frame learning from an asset-based perspective, and connect with issues and questions that are relevant to students’ lives. In turn, this engagement builds students’ agency in their learning and in their communities, as their learning helps them create meaning and address challenges that are important to them. Place-based teaching provides students opportunities to gain expertise, challenges their preconceptions of “schoolwork,” and improves their achievement. It can be difficult but it is important to find inclusive ways for everyone to safely use these sites and help the sites to become meaningful places, despite structural barriers. Situating teaching in place is an act of care and justice. It communicates to students that they, their homes, and their personal experiences are all important; that knowledge of these places is just as valuable as knowledge of other places, and that they are as valuable as people from other places (like they might see represented in a textbook or the media). Place-based teaching is an act of care and healing for the place itself–gaining understanding of a meaningful place, then potentially changing one’s thinking or actions to help it. In developing this care, place-based teaching helps students understand their interconnectedness with their place, which in turn implicitly teaches them about their connections with other places, and the natural world more broadly. It can also be important for the community itself, because it supports cultural values around the relationships between humans and the natural world, as well as around the deep meaning of particular places.
How stakeholders are engaged
From the beginning, we have opened this initiative to all members of the community, making it accessible to anyone who wants to participate, with special attention to protected categories and teens who are often not involved in local initiatives, with the end goal of creating an exemplary network among nonprofits, schools, libraries and institutions, while including the relevant CEAS (Center for Education to Environmental Sustainability) and the Emilia-Romagna Region Heritage. Local nonprofits have been engaged as mediators in the communication of the project, to attract a wide audience and design appealing events. We together have met the owners of the houses who host the giant trees and involved them in the project. They will host schools and the community into their gardens and this is giving them a sense of belonging to the community from which they had driven away by living isolated in the rural areas. Schools are at the core of the project and there have been several meetings the teachers to create new educational activities from our project that can be an added value to their usual curricula. A project secretary is in touch with all teachers weekly and facilitates meetings to check the progress and the achievement of the results, as well as to allow an exchange among them might they find obstacles and together overcome any difficulty occuring. The relevant CEAS is the national representative and helped us designing the inititiaves by attaining to the our national's guidelines on the environment and sustainability, in order to aim toward the Green Deal's goals to make the European Union climate neutral in 2050. We believe it wil be easier to reach these goals if we educate the young generations of future citizens. We are constantly communication to the Emilia-Romagna Region Heritage as to reverb the project on their social medias and to be mentored on a monthly basis by their professionals. A specific office is helping us on the task of building a graphic map
Global challenges
By pausing under these arching branches for both deep reflection and respectful, engaged conversation about the past and the present, students and their communities can prepare for the future challenges they face, both locally and globally. This examination can lead to a deep understanding for the need for biodiversity through physical, applied actions such as wrapping one’s arms around a sturdy trunk and gazing upwards, creating inventories cataloging natural species found in the community, and hunting for unprotected trees to report to the authorities. This type of instruction motivates students to engage with learning and develops their critical consciousness, in this case, a commitment to preserving biodiversity.
The need for sustainable growth can be understood through place-based teaching, which is an act of care and healing for the place itself–gaining understanding of a meaningful place, then potentially changing one’s thinking or actions to help it. In developing this care, place-based teaching helps students understand their interconnectedness with their place, which in turn implicitly teaches them about their connections with other places, and the natural world more broadly, and the need for sustainable growth.
And this examination requires open, inclusive conversations. At first students will be asking scientific questions about the natural world, but later they will ask related questions about their places and their society, inviting all of the community members not only tell their stories and sing their songs, but to share their unified dreams for the future. Thus, the students deeply put into practice preserving the biodiversity of their home, while creating a vision for sustainable future growth for their now connected, more inclusive society.
The need for sustainable growth can be understood through place-based teaching, which is an act of care and healing for the place itself–gaining understanding of a meaningful place, then potentially changing one’s thinking or actions to help it. In developing this care, place-based teaching helps students understand their interconnectedness with their place, which in turn implicitly teaches them about their connections with other places, and the natural world more broadly, and the need for sustainable growth.
And this examination requires open, inclusive conversations. At first students will be asking scientific questions about the natural world, but later they will ask related questions about their places and their society, inviting all of the community members not only tell their stories and sing their songs, but to share their unified dreams for the future. Thus, the students deeply put into practice preserving the biodiversity of their home, while creating a vision for sustainable future growth for their now connected, more inclusive society.
Learning transferred to other parties
The Magical Trees project is based in Place, and place can be found wherever schools exist. It is a good thing that wherever there is community we can find schools. Unfortunately, the commitment and attention to nature as a bigger context is not always honored. Fortunately, the eight initiatives have been designed to be adjusted, transferred and replicated wherever the local education system hasn’t been able to address the real need of having youth reconnect with nature.
The learning processes utilized with the 6-14 years-old students in our sample project demonstrated successful, relevant outcomes. Children accepted the challenge to reconnect with their families and schoolmates in order to achieve goals. Teachers found new energy and new ideas which have now been integrated into their daily instruction. Schools that had been left out of any dialogue with the local institutions are now constructing a vibrant network of relationships within the context of their operations.
Beginning from any natural element a community might present (giant trees, canals or other water-related-elements, species of plants, various elements of landscape) one can create connection points from this core element to the core target of the project: the youth. Education facilitators will monitor and adjust the process through regular meetings with teachers. Managers will connect the community to the project through meeting the different business and group leaders to invite public participation, which always begins with the family and friends of the students. The project may need time at the beginning, but it will multiply in terms of participation and enthusiasm because it involves what is deeply most important in any community: their shared natural and historical heritage, and their children.
The learning processes utilized with the 6-14 years-old students in our sample project demonstrated successful, relevant outcomes. Children accepted the challenge to reconnect with their families and schoolmates in order to achieve goals. Teachers found new energy and new ideas which have now been integrated into their daily instruction. Schools that had been left out of any dialogue with the local institutions are now constructing a vibrant network of relationships within the context of their operations.
Beginning from any natural element a community might present (giant trees, canals or other water-related-elements, species of plants, various elements of landscape) one can create connection points from this core element to the core target of the project: the youth. Education facilitators will monitor and adjust the process through regular meetings with teachers. Managers will connect the community to the project through meeting the different business and group leaders to invite public participation, which always begins with the family and friends of the students. The project may need time at the beginning, but it will multiply in terms of participation and enthusiasm because it involves what is deeply most important in any community: their shared natural and historical heritage, and their children.
Keywords
INCLUSIVE
COMMUNITY
SCIENTIFIC
CULTURAL
EDUCATIONAL
