Ecomuseum of Val of Lago

Horizontal sundials / Friendly sundial

This good practice is aimed at the creation of a new educational tool made directly with the pupils and students from the schools situated in some municipalities in the ecomuseum area. Besides giving the perception of the passing of time, sundials have also become a synonym for expressive quality, and primary school children have learned that this time clock system requires no electrical power but just sun’s rays. Through the proposed educational programme, children have learned that sundials are linked to the past, to the grandparents’ rural experiences marked by time but they also deal with art, science and poetry: they are intended to measure time and to last over time. Sundials made in the schools situated in the Val del Lago area represent a new educational tool for schools, thanks to the joint effort of students, teachers, of a sundials’ expert, the gnomonist Manuel Stefanutti and the Pro Loco association situated in Alesso that have all contributed to the realisation of this ecomuseum project. The project implementation involved a short theoretical and design training, in which students renamed the original project as ‘friendly sundial’. Standing on the sundial, students will now be able to know solar time but they could also experience a contact with the distant past whenever they are outside the school.

Val del Lago children and youth cultural map

After realizing the ‘Val del Lago Community Map’, the ecomuseum has also carried out the cultural mapping of the territory involving children of primary schools and preteens. To put into practice this initiative, a social cooperative was commissioned to realize a photo-video lab in the involved schools with the students, leading actors and performers of the project named ‘I giovani del Lago’(The Lake Youth). The programme (financed by Friuli Venezia Giulia Region) resulted in the participatory design of a multimedia tool aimed to collect the points of view of youth about the present and future of the Lago dei Tre Comuni. The objective of the project was to identify the views of the young people about Lago dei Tre Comuni and Val del Lago. Moreover, the project was intended to provide food for thought to young people about the meaning of the space from a social, economic, environmental and historical point of view; not only for beneficiaries but also for the whole community. Lastly, the project allowed students to experience a social and environmental research programme as the precondition for the creation of a video. The video lab, lasting 36 hours, involved a number of young people who volunteered to be involved in shooting, selection of the materials and film editing. During the workshop, students had the possibility to learn and experience, at first hand, the various stages of video production, shooting nature and carrying out interviews to their classmates. A participatory project design of an on-line questionnaire was realised to allow students to go through social research and to fully express their point of view about the territory. The questionnaire, completed by the students, was then used to make interviews to the students from other classes. The collected data and opinions provided a stimulus to students for the conduct of interviews. Lastly, as an integral part of the workshop, the students designed the casket and the layout of the booklet accompanying the multimedia product, using a professional suite dedicated to the editorial design. During the project implementation, the operators collaborated with the teachers to manage classroom activities, allowing students to choose their own task in the video lab. This made it possible to work significantly on contents and to faithfully represent the views of young people, through a sociological approach that concerned communication and its forms, at different levels. Topics and issues related to cinema techniques and concepts were also tackled, such as framing, camera movements, lighting, the language of cinematography, filming and editing techniques, with the focus on the aspects functionally related to the aim of the project.