PROJECT “100 CLASSI 20 years”
English translation provided by the classes II C, II D, III C, IV C from the Artistic High School Confalonieri De Chirico in Rome, coordinated by the students Elisa Brundu and Michela Caraccio supported by their teachers Arianna Ciocca and Maria Lo Tito
School academic year 2021-22
On the occasion of the 20th year of 100 classi (100 classes), in the school year 2021-22 the project aims to spread information through the website www.100classi.net about the “best practices” developed since 2002.
The involved students will achieve:
- the English translation of the main texts of the website for a wider dissemination of the project, conceived since the beginning to promote European cooperation;
- the implementation of the website WordPress platform to ease the editorial work of 100 classi.
- English version of the main texts of 100 classi website
The translation will be done according to a methodology tested for the Italian publication of the texts of the Deutsches Museum website from 2002 to 2005. This activity will emphasize the initiative of the schools that contributed to the work most and it will show the “best practices” developed by the 100 classi Network since 2002 mainly towards three directions:
- school / museum relationship – 100 classi as a cooperation between the Deutsches Museum and the Ufficio Scolastico Regionale del Lazio (USR) 2002-05;
- science communication – 100 classi very special reporters 2005-09;
- active scientific citizenship – 100 classi Smart school 2009-13; 100 classi Let’s cultivate the school 2013-19; 100 classi for future 2019-21.
The 100 classi network was born in 2002 thanks to the transnational cooperation between the Deutsches Museum in Munich and the schools from Lazio region on the occasion of the 100th year of the Museum (2003) to promote science and technology education in a region like Lazio, that is waiting for a Science Centre/Museum worthy of its Capital, Rome.
In about 20 years from the beginning, with a central idea of a “diffuse” editorial office composed of students, many initiatives have been held: visits of science centres/museums and research institutes, trips and cultural exchanges in Italy and abroad, stages, journalistic experiences, participatory democracy activities to promote scientific citizenship and to realize interventions on the territory. The organization of the diffuse editorial office resulting from the cooperation between the Deutsches Museum and the Ufficio Scolastico Regionale per il Lazio is described in the text 100 classi. Una redazione diffusa per l’Europa (Roma, USR Lazio, 2006) and in the article “Sei anni di 100 classi/Six years of 100 classi”, published both in Italian and English in “Scientific Museology” in 2008 (new series, 2, 154-161).
The editorial activity has always been central for the 100 classi: students, supported by professional editors and journalists, have been always organized as a real editorial office. As journalists, then, they have participated in scientific and technological cultural initiatives held in their region (events, conferences, exhibitions, science festivals, etc.) with the aim of communicating their own experiences related to the works they have published as “very special reporters”. To prepare classes for the editorial activity, training meetings have been envisaged every year. The method used turned out very effective in involving the participating students, as you can see in the video “Smart school. School in the sustainable city” and in the programme “100 classi. Inviati molto speciali” (very special reporters) produced by the Italian broadcaster RAI for the series “Excellence in school”, as well as in several movies you can find on the website www.100classi.net.
The work carried out confirmed the validity of the innovative method experienced with the diffuse editorial team which can now be, due to the pandemic, of particular interest for schools as a “best practice” in e-learning.
Since 2009 the 100 classi promoted a “Smart school in the sustainable city”: a school that observes and collects external solicitations, teaches to be a group, goes out to follow projects organized on a network between various schools connected to the territory, collaborates with public and private institutions, then narrates it all as the articles written by the students show.
In 2019-21 the project continued to carry out the awareness-raising activities that it has always carried out on sustainability issues, turning the attention to the future, as requested by young people worldwide in the Fridays for future: hence the title “100 classi for future“. On these issues, it promoted the participation of schools in local interventions like the “Tangenziale Verde” and significant initiatives such as the “Island of Sustainability. Act for the planet” (Rome, Mattatoio, 4-7 December 2019), which were held in presence until February 2020 or online since the beginning of the pandemic.
Classes were prepared for the editorial activity on sustainability issues with journalistic writing workshops. These workshops were organized by the RES Ricerca Educazione Scienza (Research Education Science) Association and were held by journalist Francesca Conti of the formicablu Communication Agency, partner of RES.
Students participated in the “News workshop: how to write about science” meetings at the high school “Istituto di Istruzione Superiore – IIS Confalonieri De Chirico” in Rome, the leading school of the 100 classi Network. Objective of the meetings: writing a piece of news of up to 1800 characters, including spaces, about recent topics or events on the subject of sustainability. On the 100 classi website you can read some results of these training activities.
- Implementation of the website WordPress platform
In 2019 meetings held by the engineer Roberto Di Marco from RES at the “IIS Braschi-Quarenghi” of Subiaco launched the transformation of the interactive web platform that made this editorial job possible.
The 100 classi site platform was entirely created and managed in 2003 by the Web Editorial Office composed only of students. Between 2008 and 2011 it passed from a static to a dynamic form using the first CMS, i.e. Mambo and Joomla. In 2019 it started to be transferred to WordPress, a system that allows to make the interforces for content editing more usable, facilitating the site management by a diffuse editorial team.
In March 2021 a hacking attack made another intervention necessary, that regarded the WordPress platform implementation. To restore the site after the hacking attack, the development of a WordPress template ̶ useful to reproduce its original structure ̶ has been completed so far. Given the large amount of materials produced from 2002, many more contents will then be visible again after completing:
– the identification and installation of freeware components in order to manage photo gallery, plugins for video integration, news viewer;
– the migration of existing contents to the new platform;
– the publication of contents in a graphic format both updated and at the same time able to maintain the style that has always characterized the site.
These activities were scheduled to be carried out during the school academic year 2021-22 on the occasion of the 100 classi 20th year.
Expected results
For the participating students:
- a) realizing and experimenting a form of active orientation;
- b) experimenting with the times and the popular science writing methods;
- c) learning to work in a group remotely through the web;
- d) finalizing skills and knowledge to the realization of original products that can be presented in the state examination.
For the teachers of the schools involved:
- a) contributing to the training of skills useful for research, selection and realization of science information and communication materials, all skills to be used in curricular planning;
- b) contributing to the dissemination of the experience.
Structures involved in the realization of the initiative:
- IIS Confalonieri – De Chirico from Rome, as the leading school of the 100 classi Network;
- RES Association in charge of coordination of the diffuse editorial office and of support for the 100 classi web