Always thinking about training girls and boys to learn how to face the school of life, we wanted to educate pupils and families about sustainability (environment, circular economy, conscious consumption). Thus we have developed Jun € co, a program that serves to help children / and young people / and to understand the Ethical and Sustainable Economy and Ecology; to bring the very young – and to some extent their teachers and parents – closer to the fascinating and largely unknown world of economics.
JUN€CO
Ethical, sustainable economics and ecology for primary school
Jun€co offers teaching aimed at the economics of sustainability and the elimination of waste by presenting the concepts of circular economy in a simple and practical way compared to the traditional linear economy of “single use”.
Jun€co is an educational program that proposes the key concepts of ethical and sustainable economy and ecology to the very young in a participatory, inclusive and fun way , and realizes them in dreams-projects on the theme of the environment and conscious consumption useful for the school, the territory and the planet!
Thanks to JUN€CO, the very young – playing together – are led to understand “what is behind” our economic acts, to every product we use: from notebook to pizza, from pen to smartphone, and then move on to invent and designing new “useful dreams” to be realized together, new strategies with a positive social impact, to make better use of one’s individual and collective resources.
Specifically, the Institutes that join Jun€co will be supported free of charge with:
• kit for 6 Jun€co playful-didactic units , guides for the teacher, video-tutorials in the classroom situation and the intercultural guide to economic-financial education by the Ismu Foundation. Games in English are also available for schools that decide to launch EIB-CLIL initiatives;
• Distance teacher training (online video tutorial on the use of games) and the possibility of using the remote support of a tutor to activate the links between Jun€co and the Italian, mathematics, science and history curriculum, and for the final documentation of the project. OPTIONAL: Free course on Service Learning and project management methodology for children. Those who want can then realize a dream-project on the subject of environment, ecology, recycling, etc … with their class during the school year;
The project refers to four of the eight key competences for lifelong learning defined by the Council of Europe on 22 May 2018:
a) Mathematical competence and competence in science, technology and engineering;
b) Personal, social competence and ability to learn to learn;
c) Citizenship competence and
d) Multilingual competence (Jun€co in English – CLIL).
Jun€co thus stands as an educational project to be carried out throughout the whole s, capable of enhancing and promoting transversal skills and addressing highly topical issues, such as the environment, sustainable development and climate change, in a interdisciplinary optics.
In this sense, Jun€co fits perfectly within the new Law on Civic Education at School (33 h per year). The law will come into force in the 2020-21 school year, but schools are still invited to start a trial this year, without however the final evaluation. In this sense Jun€co could be an integral part of this experimentation, thus offering schools a valuable advantage in view of the next A.S
THE JUN€CO PROGRAM AT GLANCE
Consists of two phases, preceded by remote training sessions through video tutorials (the videos are all found on www.rinascimente.tv , in the dreams-projects channel) one for each unit – intended for teachers:
Six playful-didactic units on the main concepts of the economy, of about 90 ‘each.
Educational content and objectives
Understanding how goods and services are the result of complex processes of combining resources and intermediate goods. Emphasize the centrality of human work (intellectual and manual.
Associated games
Nursery rhymes “Focaccia” and “Quaderno” Crossword + 4 puzzles to recognize the factors underlying a cinema ticket, school canteen, school-bus and sports club services
Educational content and objectives
Understanding how specialization has enabled human society to produce new goods and increase prosperity. However, specialization requires the activation of exchange processes and institutions aimed at
Associated games
Fairy tale reading “The pizza maker in love” which shows the interrelationships in an eco- system. Game with cards to be exchanged “Let’s make pizzas” according to a recipe of “ingredients” (hours of work, flour, mozzarella, tomato, wood).
Educational content and objectives
Recognize the price of goods and understand that goods with the same use value can have very different prices. Estimate prices and promote a curious and aware attitude towards consumption in children.
Associated games
In-depth study of tangible and intangible resources. 38 cards representing various kinds of goods + objects worn by a child and contained in the backpack: the prices are estimated as a group and the results are compared.
Educational content and objectives
Show the historical evolution of exchanges, from bartering to the use of currency in its various forms (coins, banknotes, virtual currency).
Associated games
4 nursery rhymes + “Goose game” with board with role play managed by the teacher (roles: banker, gas station attendant, hotelier).
Educational content and objectives
Through a simple “business game”, make people understand the impacts of decisions on production / investment / interest-bearing loans.
Associated games
Boards with decks of cards for groups of 4 pupils; 4 sheets that act as a loan register; 3 decks of cards (past, present and decisions).
Educational content and objectives
To make pupils understand the logic of ethical, sustainable and circular economy, limiting waste and encouraging conscious consumption and use-reuse.
Associated games
Fairy tale of the princess and the “servant”. Set of cards that represent different objects, their price and a “do it yourself” substitute.
The games of each Unit (essentially based on cards and game boards, to be played most of the time in groups of 4-5 students), are each collected in a numbered box. The six boxes of games / sessions together with this “Teacher’s Guide” are collected in a single case called “ JUN€CO – Playful- didactic sessions”.
2nd Phase
”From dream to project” – application of the project management methodology for children to be carried out between the months of January and May, with a weekly commitment at the discretion of the teacher (we recommend 2 h), based on the duration of the activity and the level of complexity and ambition of the dream-project.
The project management methodology for children has been successfully tested by the Amiotti Foundation in the two calls “Dal Sogno al Progetto” and “Dal Sogno al Progetto per la mia Città” (2013-2015) as well as in the JUN€CO Pilot Project of the a.s. 2016-’17.
Projects From the Future – Introduction From Dream to Project
Mariù Moresco, primary school teacher, creator, together with her husband Walter Ginevri, of the methodology of project management for children
01
Dream-project identity card
defines the name, objectives and deadline of the project, and the main “rules of the game” among the children
02
Brainstorming
the ideas of the children are collected in a creative and initially disordered way; each idea is written in a post-it attached to a board posted in the classroom;
03
Tree of ideas / Mind map
the post-its of the brainstorming (except those discarded) are grouped into groups according to the branches “What”, “Who”, “How”, “When”, “And if …”
04
Activity tree
branches of activities are constructed that correspond to activities / tasks to be carried out (often indicating one or more persons responsible for each activity), in an ad hoc board;
05
Project calendar
(Tempogramma): the activities are scheduled (weekly or every two weeks) and the logical links (if any) of the various activities are expressed, always in an ad hoc board;
06
Project traffic lights
using, for example, CD racks in which green, yellow or red cards are inserted, it visually captures which activities are progressing well / are finished, require attention or are late / show serious problems;
07
Project closure
at the end of the project, the students write down the main “lessons learned” on a board: what we learned beautifully and new, what we did better, what we could have done better, what we would like to do again, etc …
JUN€CO – INTERCULTURAL GUIDE
In this regard, it is also possible to use the Intercultural Guide promoted by the Enrica Amiotti Foundation, in co-edition with the ISMU Foundation. The guide is aimed at primary school teachers who intend to sensitize their students to the issues of ethical and sustainable economy and finance, complex but essential issues for the growth of tomorrow’s citizens. The guide is composed as follows: a theoretical part on economic and financial issues and a more concrete part, with an intercultural slant.
Themes such as saving, earning, buying and giving are thus seen and treated with interviews with parents of Arab and Chinese communities and through some fairy tales which, using the language of children, facilitate and make such vast and articulated themes attractive.
