A conference in Modena

The first post-Prague Festival meeting organised by Science on Stage Italy took place in Modena on April 26th, 2022, and precisely in the Planetarium of the city, where the school teachers have had the opportunity to meet many “stars” teachers who had presented their education project for students at the 2022 Festival. Amongst these teachers who presented their projects and showcased the devices and tools that they used or produced with the students, were many winners of the European STEM Teacher Awards of the latest edition or of the previous ones.

The meeting was included in a series of conferences for teachers called “T2T Teachers to Teachers” and addressed primary and secondary school teachers. The local Planetarium has been visited by teachers who met their colleagues and listened to their presentations for the entire afternoon.

Some 30 teachers attended the presentation session, during which Giovanni Pezzi and Marco Nicolini presented Science on Stage Europe and Science on Stage Italy, and the book “Coding in STEM education”. The session continued with the presentation of the projects by Annamaria Lisotti (2017 edition winner of the Joint Project award) with her project “BRAIIN – Bring AI In schools”, Gordon Kennedy with “Science stories from the kitchen”, Francesca Butturini’s  “Limonene-Limoneno” (Joint Project presented in Prague), and Francesco Andreoletti with “Si può fare!” (“You can do it!”).

Right after Giovanni Pezzi’s presentation of smartphone activities for Science, Federico Benuzzi (twice staged during Pragues Festival 2022) entertained the audience with his show “Fisica Sognante”.

During the showcase session, the teachers could visit the presenters’ stands and get details of the showcased projects.

Beyond the main goal of the afternoon, which has been the introduction of Science on Stage and presentation to teachers who have not participated in a Science on Stage festival yet, we tried to encourage the development of a community of primary and secondary schools teachers, working with continuity and cooperation for K-12 levels, exchanging experiences and expertise, just like the Science on Stage atmosphere allows colleagues to do.

Report by Marco Nicolini, Science on Stage Italy