Sky patterns on ceramics: Road from İznik to Salerno (SOI-IT-612)

Fliese der Gattung »Iznik-Ware« – Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, Germany – CC0.

Author: Daniela Brogna

In collaboration with Hatice Kirmaci, founder of Women Science Teachers

School/Organisation: IC Moscati, Fonseca Middle School – Pontecagnano (SA), Italy

Below is a summary of the activities, but you can download the full Story of Reuse and its annexes here in Word and PDF.

This Story of Reuse is part of “Sky Patterns: Hipparchus’ Stars Bridge İznik and Salerno Sky Patterns”, an international STEAM hackathon developed by Women Science Teachers (WST) in collaboration with schools in Türkiye and Italy (students age 11-18).

The project draws on the pioneering astronomical work of Hipparchus (his star catalogue and magnitude classification system) while simultaneously engaging with the rich artistic heritage of İznik (Türkiye) tiles and Salerno (Italy) ceramics. By merging scientific inquiry with culture and arts, the project positions astronomy and material culture as interconnected forms of knowledge.

Digital Creation and Cultural Heritage Integration

As part of the Italian team of the “Sky Patterns: Hipparchus’ Stars Bridge İznik and Salerno Sky Patterns” project, we designed a series of 3D models inspired by traditional İznik and Salerno ceramics. Using block‑based coding and digital modelling tools, students recreated characteristic motifs and patterns, integrating them into a digital landscape representing the Amalfi Coast (near Salerno, in the Italian southern coast). A video illustrating the virtual gallery is available in Annex 1. 

They also created the 3D model of a vase using Tinkecad (video available here).

Alongside the virtual artifacts, students also manually created plates with ceramic-inspired motifs, taking inspiration from both İznik and Salerno artistic traditions.

Creating Animated GIFs with Europeana Resources

Students explored the Europeana.eu portal and its digital archive of cultural heritage items to curate a gallery of mediterranean ceramic plates. Each student selected one plate and transformed it into an animated GIF, integrating elements of Italian food culture through digital stickers.

Students created an Europeana gallery with the resources they collected. Then, from this gallery, they chose some pictures to participate in the Europeana “GIF IT UP” challenge, an annual GIF-making contest that celebrates creative remixing of cultural heritage, run by Europeana.

Exploring Hipparchus’ Star Catalogue and Connecting Ancient Science to Digital Practice

In parallel with the cultural heritage activities, students investigated the star catalogue of Hipparchus, focusing on his foundational contributions to astronomy and trigonometry. The virtual environment is available at: https://edu.delightex.com/EXT-DRU.

Programming Digital Tiles for the ISS (Astro Pi Mission)

Students created digital tiles programmed in Python (https://www.python.org/) to be sent to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of the Astro Pi mission.

The European Astro Pi Challenge offers young people the opportunity to conduct scientific investigations in space by writing computer programs that run on computers aboard the ISS. As part of the Astro Pi Mission Zero program, students wrote a Python program to display a personalised image on an Astro Pi computer on board the ISS for the astronauts to see as they go about their daily tasks, using reading from the Astro Pi’s colour and luminosity sensor to set the colours. The students’ digital tiles featured flowers and marine animals, symbolically representing the natural environment of their local territory.

This multimodal approach allowed students to experience the “app smashing” pedagogical approach, integrating multiple digital tools into a coherent STEAM Project, while also creating physical content.

Outcomes for students

The implementation this activity enabled students to:

• Generate digital artifacts integrating star data with İznik–Salerno design elements.
• Improve their scientific and cultural literacy, particularly in historical astronomy and Mediterranean ceramic heritage.
• Be part of a replicable STEAM education model that unites science, art, and cultural heritage through international cooperation.

Students demonstrated high engagement and autonomy, extending their collaboration beyond classroom hours.

Outcomes for the educator

As an educator, the project offered:

• Opportunities to integrate cultural heritage, science, art and digital creativity into a structured STEAM pathway.
• Insights into students’ ability to co-design meaningful digital artifacts.
• A rich environment for interdisciplinary teaching.
• A model for future activities combining virtual worlds, 3D modelling, and physical and digital artifacts.

CC0 : the featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana and has been provided by the Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe