“QUI VAL DI FIASTRA”: A TERRITORY EDUCATION PROJECT WITH CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

In accordance with the national trend, Le Marche region is facing a depopulation of the so-called "inland areas" that are characterised by lack of services, poor job and education offer, and other difficulties caused by earthquakes hitting the region regularly. Thanks to the bustle already in place in the last few years, a project called "Qui Val di Fiastra" is being implemented with the long-term aim to reverse the tendency towards the abandonment of small villages. The project concerns the activation of processes of shared participation between local communities to raise awareness regarding sustainability issues. Moreover, the project involves the organisation of local administrations and educational institutions in the four municipalities included. The present study encompasses an exploratory investigation that aims to apprehend if and how the territory's understanding can be improved from both a quantitative and qualitative point of view, through the experiential comprehension of the material and non-material environment. All students attending a lower secondary school and of the third and fifth grades of a primary school were involved and invited to answer to a questionnaire at the beginning and at the end of the project, after 6 months. They responded to a questionnaire of 6 open-ended questions in which they were asked to indicate three places that deserve to be visited for the built heritage, the natural heritage, the knowledge heritage and traditions. They were also asked to indicate the best aspect of the landscape surrounding their city and what to do or to say to convince someone to visit it. Content analysis was performed for each question. Results show a fairly significant increase in the number of answers to the questions. Regarding the built heritage, there was an increase from 70.28% to 76.80%; the natural heritage went from 35.43% to 55.80%; the knowledge heritage and traditions rose from 44.57% to 57.46% and finally, the one related to the panorama ascended from 42.86% to 67.96%. Before and after every activity in the area, in addition to questionnaires, other surveys were carried out using various tools to give the opportunity to acquire further details adopting different kinds of languages. The data collected improved the responses, mainly from a qualitative point of view as revealed during the class discussions, the greater details showed in the drawings and descriptions, the acquisition of technical and new terms. A clear consolidation of knowledge is appreciable