Among the outputs of the Life Drylands project, an educational kit aimed at families was expected, to actively involve them in the knowledge of the target habitats (heaths, corynephoretums and arid grasslands) and to stimulate awareness of the project themes.
After a period of research and experimentation, we have designed the “Discovery KIT”, an interpretative tool much richer than the one initially expected in the project: there are more stimuli, ideas and contents. It has thus been possible to expand the catchment area: not only families, but also young people, adults and the elderly.
The Discovery KIT is therefore aimed at all the different types of visitors to the parks.
The design of the kit followed a participatory process to collect everyone’s opinions: it was tested both with park operators, during outings and training meetings (June 30 at Ansa di Castelnovate, July 8 at Baraggia di Lenta and 14 October at the Parco Lombardo della Valle del Ticino) and with future users, during the event “The importance of being dry” held on 3 October at the “La Fagiana” Park Center in the Ticino Park.
Testing of the Kit in occasione of the event: “XV Workshop of Enviromental education in the protected Areas of Lombardy region ” – ottobre 14th 2021 (ph. S. Dorigotti)
Testing the kit in occasion of the public event: “The importante to be arid ” – ottobre 3th – 2021 (Ph. S. Dorigotti)
The kit is made up by various materials and tools, such as high magnifiers, mapsticks, little frames for observe the landscape, “fortune tellers”, leaflet for recognizing the most common angiosperm species. We have chosen these tools because they promote the scientific investigation, the multi-sensory experience and the independent exploration – with the aim of supporting the younger audience in particular.
The themes revolve around multidisciplinarity: in addition to purely technical-scientific contents, there are many links with the world of cinema, music, poetry and literature.
Discovery KIT (ph. P. Berera)