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The Education Department of Ocean Space offers targeted courses in citizenship and sustainability, along with introductions to topics relating to oceanographic issues, culture and contemporary art.

The educational program seeks to engage and involve both the teaching community and students of all levels on issues concerning the pressing challenges facing the environment and society around the world, with the aim of establishing a new “ocean generation”.

One of the main objectives is to help foster the growth of future citizens with an awareness of the ocean’s importance to humanity, a vital resource that needs to be protected to safeguard the existence of all forms of life on planet Earth.

The Education Department has launched a long-term educational experience to give everyone a chance to be actively involved, and to make a serious contribution towards safeguarding our planet.

In the school program 2022/2023, students will be taking part in training sessions and digital workshops in the classroom designed to encourage collective reflection, critical thinking, and inspire environmentally conscious actions. Using the “peer to peer” method (young people talking to other young people), the educational experience will be divided into three multidisciplinary paths, determined by school classification, that will guide students through the process of creating short animated videos and documentaries as forms of environmental activism from the classroom.

STUDENTS TRAININGS:

• Path "Ocean Waves: what kind of shapes do the waves of the sea display?", aimed at pre-school classes (3-5 YEARS OLD).
  
  Considering that pre-school children are often asked to do pre-handwriting exercises to learn how to write, we’re offering an activity that investigates and imitates the waves of the sea through the process of mimesis. In the first phase, we will guide participants in the observation of images relating to wave motion paying particular attention to natural phenomena and the various forms that water can take based on on the spaces it occupies. Finally, we will help them to make drawings inspired by the shapes of ocean waves using different techniques.
  
• Path “Ocean Blue: blue signs in the landscape”, aimed at elementary school classes (6-10 YEARS OLD).

The landscape contains an overall vision, unavoidable for observers who perceive and experience it. It represents the peculiarities of a territory defined by its human, physical, and biological characteristics. The geographer and writer Eugenio Turri coined the term “iconema” to indicate a particularly significant part of the landscape that can be considered the emblem or the sign of that landscape. Students will be invited to reflect on the blue “sign” of their city to (re)establish a connection with or a reflection on water as an element, whether that be a lake, a river, a sea, an ocean, or any other evocative element.

• Path “Ocean Objects: narrating blue space with objects”, aimed at middle school classes (11-13 YEARS OLD).

Observing, numbering, collecting, cataloging, and measuring the extraordinary variety in the natural world and the way in which it expresses itself in the innumerable shapes and structures, sounds and colors, behaviors and adaptations, has always fascinated man. The desire to explore this diversity has given rise to different readings and interpretations of the natural world over the centuries, and has also seen the development of different techniques for collection and representation that seek to somehow standardize and define it. Students will be invited to reflect, collect, and catalog images and objects related to the blue world, to create an ideal museum of the whole peninsula, linked to water and the sea.

• Path “Ocean Stories: stories of the sea”, aimed at high school classes (14-19 YEARS OLD).

Students will be invited to reflect on citizenship, the environment that surrounds them, and the space they inhabit. The goal is to (re)connect and introduce children to the public spaces of their cities, recognizing how it functions and its rules for coexistence, experiencing it as a space for action and bringing attention to their cause. Following a path of exploration, reflection, and research together, students will move on to collect individual and collective stories on the relationship between man and the sea and water as an element, creating a real archive of stories and experiences in a collective narrative.

The activities are completely free but registration is required. More information will be communicated via email.

For the second consecutive year 2022/2023, Ocean Space has been part of the “Tutto un altro percorso” project (formerly the school-work exchange) promoted by the Veneto Regional School Office and the Venice Foundation, which gives students a chance to get involved in the activities organized for Ocean Space’s permanent educational program, “Ocean Schools”.

The primary objective of the initiative is to facilitate contact between high schools and the world of work. Specific school-work exchange courses (now PCTO) have been defined, studied, and shared, to offer high-profile and qualified training opportunities for acquiring skills that can be used in the workplace and opportunities after graduation.

HOW TO APPLY?

After carrying out the steps laid out by the legislation, teachers must collect motivational letters written by interested students, through which they will introduce themselves to their institutions of choice, and forward them to the Venice Foundation by email, within the dates indicated in the tables, to the address: giovani@fondazionedivenezia.org.

To avoid overwhelming the tutors at the host institutions when identifying the most suitable candidates, and to allow students from different backgrounds to be offered an opportunity, it is advisable to send no more than 6 applications per class (except in the case of experiences designed for the entire class).

Once the candidates have been selected, the Venice Foundation will put teachers in contact with Valeria Bottalico, Head of Ocean Space’s educational activities, to agree on the timing and activities of the project.

For more information:
l.tallone@fondazionedivenezia.org