In 1998 she founded the SCS Onus Children’s Museum which manages “Explore Il Museo dei Bambini di Roma”. field of fashion, make-up, merchandising, and later communication in the music sector, also dealing with the planning of promotion strategies and campaign programming for Italian and international artists, concerts and live music, cultural events, and television programs. He is chairman of the cooperative’s board of directors and deals with the planning of museum development strategies, funding research, and museum development working with institutions, public bodies, and private companies.
1. Director of Explora
The Children’s Museum of Rome wherewith her work ranges from the development of many initiatives to the direct relationship with schools, families, and children. What has changed significantly in recent years?
It is certain that since 2001, the year in which we opened to the public about 20 years ago, there has been a great change in our society – internet, globalization, digital world, new technologies – but at the same time I also confirm that the opportunity to play and in-depth study offered by the Children’s Museums have not changed: play, sociability, dexterity, discovery, and experimentation remain even if they use new tools. Explore began with a strong connotation on the theme of environmental education, thanks also to its structure equipped with a photovoltaic system integrated into the architecture, certainly avant-garde in 2001, which allowed us to experience what renewable energies were. In addition to the environment, over the years Explore has experimented with science, mathematics, economic education, road safety, bio-economy, typographic art, and craftsmanship, up to the most innovative STEM and Equal Opportunities. Over the years, it is certainly significant that children’s museums have gained courage and have undertaken more complex, more scientific, and “social” paths unthinkable to offer long ago.
2. Play and Learning Travel on the Same Tracks. Is it the Same Even if We think of Remote Digital Tools?
I believe a lot in remote tools, looking above all at what is happening in the world today with this challenge of the health emergency: I see the difference tangible, therefore the improvement of our times “technologically” ahead. But it is also true that it is natural for children to touch, taste, try, make mistakes and try again to understand themselves and the world around them. Even taking a trivial run and seeing who arrives first, puts the child in comparison with his own abilities, allows you to measure yourself with others, to grow one’s self-esteem, and this is the miracle of the “game”.
3. Pair Is the Game Path, Recently Promoted By Explora
With the aim of deepening rights and duties, equality and uniqueness, to overcome gender stereotypes. Could you tell us what the response from families and the results obtained by the young learners has been up to now?
The reaction of children and adults was wonderful, a great success, we also administered tests to understand what they like, what is not clear or what is wrong, in short, an effective test that allows us to improve the set-ups and educational activities: to the questions.
Do you like the game course? Yes, for 98.8%,
Has the issue of Equal Opportunities been dealt with effectively? YES, for 89.20%
Do you think that at the end of the game the children learn something about the subject? YES, for 79.3%
It is difficult to estimate the learning outcomes, but I think that even just having played with this complex and transversal theme is a stimulus for everyone.
4. Is there Already a New Didactic Experimentation Project You are Working on?
Circular Economy is the theme we are working on and which we hope to be able to complete by 2020. But it is also true that this current health emergency and this global challenge must be a topic of study for everyone once passed, also to learn from mistakes. that we commit.
5. After Many Years of “Economiamo”
The educational path dedicated to the responsible use of money, what do you feel you can recommend to teachers and their parents?
Financial education is important not only for everyday life but also for facing more difficult challenges: being ready and prepared to manage crises also comes from this knowledge. Explora has been offering this theme for years, exactly since 2009 when “Economiamo” was inaugurated, but I can confirm the difficulty of convincing teachers to book a workshop on financial education at the time. Today it is certainly better, the world of school is more open to many topics and didactic topics such as financial education: it was finally understood, also thanks to the great work of Fed-up over time, that it is a very important element for the development and social growth of our country and the world in we live in.