PUBLIC
This educational activity was conceived by the teacher as a result of a peer-to-peer training mobility developed in Saint-Germain-en-Laye from 4 to 8 June 2018 based on a transversal approach to the theme of the garden. This methodology was later experimented in the Botanical Garden of the University of Padua, Italy, with the participation of 83 students of the high school Enrico Fermi of Padua – some of them with learning difficulties, within a framework of collaboration between the Association Acquamarina and the Botanical Garden of Padua.

KEY COMPETENCES
 Communication in the mother tongue
 Scientific and mathematical competences
 Learning to learn
 Social competences and citizenship
 Humanist culture and expression of sensitivity

OBJECTIVES To use the garden as a vehicle to :
 motivate moments of communication and exchange among the groups
 carry out researches and collect information
 observe the garden accurately and be able to describe it
 rally competences and knowledge in order to answer a questionnaire
 learn how to work in group effectively.

GARDENS EXPLORED
Botanical Garden of the University of Padua, Italy

MATERIALS
 A clean map of the Botanical Garden
 Questionnaire on the garden
 Pencils and colours

DEVELOPMENT
1.Form the groups

2.Elicit explanations
Each group participates in the contest following the rules of the game : in an hour’s time they will build up their own maps with names of the Botanical Garden also availing themselves of the answers to the questionnaire. The students in each group can get organized as they want : subdividing tasks, sharing questions and answers, etc.

3.Invite the students to rally their competences and knowledge by :
 using some basic geometrical notions to recognise form, calculate areas and lengths
 observing, recognising, recreating some of the typical forms of the garden with the help of drawings and picture
 getting oriented within the spaces of the garden, starting for example from the cardinal points
 researching and recognizing structures and objects described in the questionnaire
 finding and describing the plants properly, with their names, spots, structures, areas of distribution and their characteristics
 providing these descriptions with the students’ knowledge and competences on history and history of art

4.Make the students aware that the final output of this ’reading’ will be a re-visited version of what was learnt, uploaded on the site in order to create a sensibly planned guide easy to read and understand.

EVALUATION
It takes into account the following points :

Oral and written communication in the mother tongue
 communicating and sharing information using a proper vocabulary
 being able to present one’s own work upholding choices and using notes
 being able to use images and graphs as means of communication of a topic

Development of cultural and scientific competences
 observing, summarising, using scientific knowledges and competences along with historical and artistic ones
 use of graphic representations to communicate scientific facts

Learning to learn
 organising the work autonomously to achieve an effective and gratifying result
 establishing relationship between previous and new knowledges
 learning to be critical about what was developed

Development of social and civic competences
 practising group work
 sharing information and knowledges

AUTHORS
Nicole Schmidt and Elisa Corteggiani
Association Acquamarina, Trieste, in collaboration with the Botanical Garden of the University of Padua, Italy

TRANSLATER
Mary Gino
Association Acquamarina, Trieste, Italie