A PROJECT FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

INTRODUCTION

Water, an irreplaceable source of life, must be considered a common heritage for humanity and for other living organisms. The access to water, particularly to drinkable water, is a social human right that must be garanted to all human beings, indipendently from race, age, sex, class, nationality and religion.

More than 1,4 billion of people in the world can't access drinkable water. Since water, air and food as well, is the main irreplaceable source of life, this means that the right to life for a hundred billion human beings is strictly neglected or at least unaccessable. It's about an unbereable situation for a world that proclaims itself  "GLOBAL VILLAGE". The risk is that, if there is no inversion of tendencies, people without access to drinkable water will become more than 3 billion by 2020.

Water resources in the world are everywhere in a disastrous condition.

Pollution, contaminations and wastes have contributed to trasform water into a rarer resource in the indispensable quality to life. So, even in the developped countries like Italy, it has become more expensive to access good drinkable water. For many years, the price of water has been risen even if in Italy the qality of water and of its distribution remains inadeguate and insufficient in many areas of the country.

The contrast is inacceptable between the areas where the lack of the water remains a daily problem and the regions where people waste the water for agricoltural purpose or industrial acrivities or home usage and irresponsable private people. This can be considered a real distruction of the water estate. So, we must teach our children not to destroy the sources of life. Nowadays generations must protect, valorize, use and save the water resources so that future generations can enjoy the same freedom of action and choise, the same we enjoy today.

This project will be connected to a wider one called "Water Mission" set on line by a Japanese school with which we will work together on the web. The symbol of our project is the mascotte Kanikichi that arrived directly to school by mail from Japan. This is a world net among schools. Foreign schools join us in this project, for example from Danemark, South Africa, New Zeland, the States...

TOP

• Investigating the perception and use of water and rivers in the past and all over the world, discovering how water influences on the daily life styles and habits of a population, moulding social and cultural caracteristics.

• Discovering historical and cultural aspects, the local knowledge concerning water and rivers.

• Gathering information about traditions, beliefs, symbols, rites, myths and legends concernig water and rivers.

• Valorizing cultural and folkloristic tradition about our area to recognize critically the local diversity and the shapes it expresses itself, as a value and a resource to protect.

• Increasing the esteeme level in the students.
• Promoting integration, interest for classroom activities and sense of belonging to the school community
• Getting selfcontrol and responsability
• Developing skills of critical observation and collaboration.

• Water and its chimical and physical caractheristics (Lab activities)

• Study of an environment: the river (flora and fauna, biologycal cycle of plants, food chain, drawings...)

• Study and analysis of myths connected to water

• Social and economical activities about the river.

• Tests and questionaries for children.

• Drama workshops

• Photos, posters and drawings realized by the children

• Comparing the discoveries done in each group and the acquired materials

• Communicating to the other schools communities the works done, by showing the products and the materials.

TOP

• Developing all the students' skills (psycomotricity, expression, logic, technological operativity, socialization)

• Experimenting tools and methods to facilitate learning

• Sensibilizing and educating students to the knowledge, to the respect and preservation of the environment.

• Promoting socializing activities at school

• Elaborating strategies that promote the integration of foreign students, disabled and students who are in difficult situations.

• facilitating confidence in the students through the use of the body and different kinds of languages

• Developing behavious, values, skills and knowledge useful to live in the world through observation, relationships, abilities to make hypothesis and check them through experimental activities.

• Acquiring the skills to express through many different languages

• Using computer language as a tool of work for oneself and to communicate with the others.

• Photos exhibition realized at school by the children

TOP

• Excursions in the concernded area for an emotional approach with interviews.

• Games, scientific computing arts, musical, drama activities.

• Research and information forms

• A personal creative and active way of studying

• A conscious learning-studying outside implies role activities and responsabilities.

• Different methods proposed by the teachers adopted to each student's need.

• Earth Science Laboratory
• Spoleto Enviromental Club
• Yanahara-nishi Elementary School
  285 Kose, Yanahara-cho, Kume-gun,Okayama 708-1532, Japan

Maria Blasini

traslation by Susanna Marsiglia