Building ecological awareness through children naturalistic exploration: feature and opportunities of a method.

Experiencing contact with the world helps to develop a connection, a sense of belonging, care and ecological awareness, generating a desire to experience more sustainable existences (Mortari, 2020). The immersive and experiential encounter with the environment can foster a deep connection with the world in which children are asked to take responsibility towards places (Sobel, 2002): so, it is possible to develop respectful, empathic and sustainable attitudes (Guerra, 2020; 2021) which allow each one to feel part of the planet, and not outsiders of something to be exploited. Ecological education (Mortari, 2018) enhances a sense of deep connection with the world (Chawla, Derr, 2012) through occasions of encounter, knowledge and a desire to care for places, which progressively acquire significance (Judson, 2019). Caring is a practice acquired through experiential learning: in this sense, it appears crucial to promote immersive experiences outdoors where caring is embodied in practices (Mortari, 2020). In light of these considerations, a project by a research group of the Department of Human Sciences for Education of the University of Milano-Bicocca, within the National Biodiversity Future Center, proposes exploratory experiences of the Vivaio Bicocca, an outdoor place in the neighbourhood, neglected for years and recently redeveloped through interventions and cultural initiatives. Among the actions envisaged there are initial proposals and tools for observation, collection, cataloguing and documentation, discussed with a group of researchers from the Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences. These tools, useful for keeping track of questions and hypotheses with narratives, sketches and photographs, making discoveries visible and supporting reflective processes, have been tested with children aged 3-11 and their teachers/educators through a material-reflective experience (Guerra, 2019) that aims to observe, describe, look for relationships and questioning, through an immersive occasion that triggers the desire to learn more. The contribution presents the first issues that have emerged in defining an approach that aims to contribute to the definition of a methodological and design possibility for outdoor educational experiences. Such experiences could allow a better understanding of lived places through observational/documentary tools and renewed gazes, supporting the development of attitudes of care and responsibility in the youngest.