Migration: an Old New Normal Story (LS-IT-291)
This learning scenario, created by Vittoria Volterrani, Italian teachers member of the Europeana User Group, combines the Cooperative Learning method, Webquest technique and the Europeana Collection: Personal Migration Stories.
Cooperative Learning is a methodology based on constructivism, strictly connected to competencies and students-centred. In particular, the Webquest technique combines cooperative learning strategies to web research, training several 21st-century skills, such as analytical competencies, critical thinking, collaboration, communication. In this scenario, the cooperative activity finishes with a public presentation of the products realized by pupils.
The normality of migration
The scenario is designed for students aged between 8-10, but is suitable also for students 11/16 and aims to raise awareness about the normality of migration.
The activity leads kids to understand the different reasons that push people to migrate throughout the past and present. Reading the personal migration stories on Europeana, they got a familiar and closer perspective of the reasons behind migration. By comparing past and present migration stories, students have lowered the sensationalism that migration phenomena have in the media nowadays and that foster current populist tendencies
Reportage about migration
After a first brainstorming about students’ previous knowledge, summarised in a Coggle mindmap, kids, in cooperative groups were assigned with a WebQuest: a reportage about migration. Each group had 3 different migration stories to be read and summarised in the StoryMap the writer. Using Google Mymaps, the researcher calculated the distance of each migration route. The designer copied the symbols of each story and traced the migration routes on a big world paper map.
After the creation of these digital and analogue products, each group practised their stories argumentation to be told during the sharing moment with the community.
The sharing moment was held at school, after each group storytelling, a community component was invited by kids to present with an object their personal migration story in a minute. Several parents and grandparents told the audience personal memories and experiences creating a very touching atmosphere.
The day after, kids were led in a metacognitive revision path. Retracing their learning path by open-ended questions, they perfectly realised the normality of migration, showing an araised awareness and a higher sensibility toward the phenomenon. They also reflected on the working modality, pointing out that, even in a challenging way, Europeana provided an extremely interesting and stimulating learning path.
Here you have a trailer of the experience.
Would you like to know more about this learning scenario? You can download it below:
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CC BY-SA 4.0: The featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana Collections.