Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre

Environmental Education

Environmental Education Proposals
School Year 2007/2008

• one-day proposals
• two-day proposals

The following proposals are dedicated to students of the second cycle of elementary and middle schools.

One-day Workshops

Each workshop lasts 2 hours and a half or 3 hours.

The Themes (for each activity, you will find the best season to carry out it)

• The Mediterranean Maquis (preferably from January to May)
• How Can We Preserve Plants? (Use of the Herbarium) (during the whole school year)
• Following the Bees: Plants and Pollinators (preferably from February to May)
• Sowing and Tasting (preferably from September to December)

Each workshop is divided into some stages.
First of all, an introduction to the Park territory - with slide projection - focusing on the most widespread environments (about 40 minutes.

The subsequent activities vary according to the chosen issue:

• The Mediterranean Maquis
  Tour along the botanic route of Torre Guardiola with exploration of the vegetal world of the maquis
  Observation and discussion of the samples coming from the botanic route.
  
  
• How Can We Preserve Plants? (Use of the Herbarium)
  How to create the herbarium
  Observations with the microscope and stereomicroscope.
  
  
• Following the Bees: Plants and Pollinators
  Tour along the botanic route of Torre Guardiola for the observation of the pollinator insects
  Observations with the microscope and stereomicroscope.
  
  
• Sowing and Tasting
  Fruits and seeds of the Park (sensorial activity on fragrances and tastes of spontaneous fruits)
  Experience of sowing some essences of the maquis.

Final activity with games to end each meeting.

Two-Day Activities

During the first day, the above-mentioned thematic workshops will be held; during the second day there will be a trip with outdoor activities: we suggest a series of itineraries of different difficulty and length according to the age and availability of students and teachers.

1. The Vegetable Gardens of Manarola: route and activities for the observation of the traditional cultivations of Cinque Terre (Riomaggiore - Via dell'Amore - Manarola).
   Not very demanding itinerary lasting about 2 hours, with a difference in height of 100 meters suitable for everyone, in any season.
   
   
2. Among Vineyards and Cones: route and activities to discover the vineyards and the Park pinewood (Manarola - Volastra - Caseporciano - Corniglia).
   Very demanding itinerary lasting about 4 hours, with a difference in height of 450 meters, suitable for well-trained students, preferably until April.
   
   
3. The Olive Tree and the Maquis: route and activities among the olive groves of Cinque Terre and one of the largest and most characteristic Mediterranean environments (Corniglia - Vernazza).
   Rather demanding itinerary lasting about 3 hours, with a difference in height of 200 meters, suitable for trained students, preferably until May.

During the tour, besides the traditional naturalistic observations, there will be one or more educational games, always chosen according to the age of the participants, on the following issues:
- plants of the maquis
- insects
- birds

In case of rain, the activity of the 2nd day will be replaced with a workshop held in CEA Torre Guardiola.

Proposals for the Residents

For the schools of the Park Municipalities there are two educational modules developing throughout the school year:

• "Terrazze sul mare" - man and nature in Parco delle Cinque Terre
• "Ciclo e riciclo" - the problem of waste and the importance of recycling
• Each module consists of 5 meetings and includes meetings in the classroom and trips with practical activities, games, and research activities in groups.

• Survey form (WORD, Italian text - 27 Kb)

For information please call the telephone number 0187/920388 - E-mail: cea@parconazionale5terre.it

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