The project aims to sensitize young people about the The EU goal of social inclusion and if and how social inclusion and enhancement and transmission of cultural heritage can be strictly linked together. As " if social inclusion is to be made a reality in Europe and if social exclusion is to be overcome, then everybody must have power over all the resources needed in their societies to achieve these goals" (https://www.staff.ncl.ac.uk/j.veit-wilson/documents/humandignityespa2004.pdf). This applies also to the sensory field in society and first of all at school. We aim to help students become aware of all the possibilities they can exploit to create real inclusion at multiple levels. First of all they will be confronted with special languages and ways of expression which can help less abled people not to feel excluded from experiences which for the so called "normally gifted people" are very often taken for granted. They will become involved in active collaboration with local bodies such as local Museums or other cultural organizations to create materials with braille writer or working with augmented reality and IS language. During the mobilities they will be confronted with specific experiences that represent experiences of excellence in the field of inclusion.They will be given the possibility to reflect about how to be proactive and to react in the proper way to face bullying (in Italy they will meet Marco Baruffaldi. He is a 22-year-old boy from Castelfranco Emilia (Modena) with Down syndrome and a great passion for music: his rap piece 'We are different from us', signed Baruffabomber, has the strength of an anthem against bullying , of which he himself has been a victim.) We have chosen an active approach to learning from practical experience. Learning through experience is related to learning to acquire abilities, and to the capacity to take any opportunity to learn from. Entrepreneurial people are resilient and do not step back when faced with challenges; they enjoy challenges and see them as opportunities to learn from. Through our project students are stimulated to learn by doing, and by reflection on their own action. The acquisition of relevant and high quality skills takes place through thinking about our actions and learning from what we do: from mistakes, from practice, from experience and from what went well. Social inclusion and positive mutual cultural integration are two big challenges we are called to face . Innovative practices in the present digital era can support an innovative learning and teaching approach that can help students and teacher to become more resilient and can help developing fundamental 21st century competences such as critical and empathic thinking, creativity and capability to work in team. Students will be pushed to investigate the most relevant aspects of their territory and to look for an appropriate and involving way to transmit their cultural heritage to project partners considering not only the five traditional physical senses, but also special ways to include people with disabilities and special needs. They will learn special languages and digital instruments which can help motivate and include people without letting any one behind. During the several phases of the project and through interaction on the eTwinning platform students will write also texts and music for a final musical whose title is " io negli altri" (finding me into the others), where actors, dancers and singers (students) will act using IS language while voices will be heard coming from behind the curtain. During the project students will learn how to use special instruments such as braille alphabet and IS language. They will collaborate with local stakeholders and authorities to create special moments and ways of inclusion. For example they will create braille texts for Museums.They will work with augmented reality to integrate voice over files to describe objects and facts to mediate their own cultural heritage to less abled people. Through a web radio contest they will learn how beauty perfumes and music can be translated into special chances of inclusion. Beside this they will be free to create and choose the kind of product and of tool they will use for each physical sense they will be asked to refer to while transmitting their cultural heritage to other partners from other European countries. The leading idea is to give a sense of belonging to a bigger and multifaceted community which extends beyond the limits of our individual physical or cultural borders and boundaries. Guiding thread through the project is the creation of the final Musical.
We did it with all our senses! After three years of "challenges", we ended a project with a strong educational impact. The last mobility took place in September in the city of Carpi, carried out with enormous willpower by the five participating countries, despite the pandemic that for about two years has severely tested the willpower and resilience of all partners.Even though, due to the pandemic, several of the activities originally planned had to be cancelled (e.g. the involvement of the rapper with Down Syndrome and the course in learning sign language, the collaboration with local supermarkets and museums for the installation of braille plaques) we can definitely say that the project was a success in terms of acquiring a spirit of resilience, first and foremost.Our main achievement was that we found the sense, and experienced all in the senses. The project has certainly raised awareness of the EU objective of social inclusion. By reflecting on "if and how" it can be achieved, we became certain that social inclusion and valorisation and transmission of cultural heritage can be closely linked. We experienced concretely the fact that "if social inclusion is to become a reality in Europe and social exclusion is to be overcome, then everyone must have access to all the resources needed in their society to achieve these goals". We lived fundamental experiences concretely, for the sensory field, in society and first of all at school, we became aware of many possibilities that can be exploited to create real inclusion on several levels and applied them, albeit in a reduced form due to the pandemic.The confrontation with special languages and ways of expression that can help less able people not to feel excluded, helped us to understand and appreciate the profound value of experiences that for so-called 'normally gifted people' are too often taken for granted. Active collaboration with local bodies such as museums or other cultural organisations to create materials with Braille writers or working with augmented reality and sign language, although frustrated and reduced due to the pandemic, nevertheless fostered resilient attitudes even during the lock down and the enormous difficulties, practical and psychological, associated with it. During the mobilities, that we realised in spite of everything, we were confronted with specific experiences that represent excellence in the field of inclusion. Experiences gained also through the eTwinning platform, gave us the opportunity to reflect on how to be proactive, reacting appropriately to traumatic experiences, which prevented us from meeting in person for a very long time. Learning through experience relates to learning how to acquire skills and ability to seize every opportunity to learn from. People with an enterprising spirit are resilient and do not back down in the face of challenges. These were many and have sometimes tested our will to resist despite isolation and the impossibility of moving freely. A very important acquisition, was that of learning by acting and reflecting on one's actions. The acquisition of relevant and high quality skills happens through reflecting on our actions and learning from what we do: from mistakes, practice, experience, what went well, but also from what didn't work or what we were prevented from doing. We learned that social inclusion and positive cultural integration are two big challenges we have to face.Thanks to innovative methodologies supported by the ITCS, which have proved to be more crucial than ever in the last two years in overcoming isolation, students and teachers were able to become more resilient and develop key 21st century skills, such as critical and empathic thinking, creativity and the ability to work in a team: to team up despite distances.This resilient spirit developed during the various activities carried out in the so-called 'normal times' but emerged more and more strongly since our daily lives were disrupted.During the project and the interaction on the eTwinning platform,participants wrote texts and music for a final show.Its title would have been "I in the others" and was supposed to conclude the last mobility in Italy, but unfortunately, we could not perform it in the theatre in Carpi because of the pandemic. We did not lose heart, however, and continued collaborate remotely to create the various parts of a film that replaced what should have originally been our show "written by 5 hands"of the delegations. This was presented to the public on the occasion of the long-awaited final mobility which we managed to carry out, by gritting our teeth and resisting the disappointments which more than once threatened to make us throw in the towel and give up. Certainly a very important result, which goes beyond the concrete products that we managed to produce, is the fact that despite everything and resisting everything, we have maintained the will and the joy of interacting to achieve a common goal.