Stiamo perdendo l’esperienza della natura? Un test visivo (Visual Nature Footprint Test) condotto presso una scuola primaria italiana nell’ambito della ricerca sperimentale in educazione civica
Isabel de Maurissens - i.demaurissens@indire.it, Hubert Mansion - hubert@unature.org
This article relates to the Visual Nature Footprint Test (VINA) that was administered in the period March-June 2021 at the beginning of the experimental research «Civic Education with Nature» of the National Institute of Documentation, Innovation and Educational Research (INDIRE), Italy, with the scientific partner Université dans la Nature (UdN), Canada, and the Vespucci primary school in Florence.
The purpose of the test was to evaluate the connection with nature through images taken by the teachers and students on their way from their home to their school before the administration of any interventions and training. This article presents the VINA test results as they rely to the subject’s connection with nature, as well as the reasons why the visual method was chosen, the procedures, criteria, and classification to evaluate the subject’s connection with nature through images.
According to the authors, the school is the ideal and decisive place to achieve this reconnection and civic education can be the appropriate context to avoid the extinction of experience of nature in students (Pyle and Louv, 2011).
Keywords
Teacher training, civic education, connection with nature, visual analysis, experimentation.