Time and science. A co-creative project between schools and Pavia university museums

The participation and subsequent funding by the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR), of the project submitted to the national competition “Teaching projects in museums, in archaeological, historical and cultural sites, as well as in cultural and scientific institutions” enabled the University of Pavia’s Museum System, together with a number of infant, primary and secondary schools, to carry out various activities, the first part of which began in January and concluded with the end of the school year. The project is one of many which, nearly every year since 2005, has variously engaged some of Pavia University’s museums, the Department of Physics and a number of local educational institutions from schools to the university. Many of its characteristics have been retained this year too - the active involvement of museum staff, teachers and students, workshops and production activities, the wide use of the history of science and art history, the use of analogical reasoning, both within individual subjects and among subjects, the strong links with school curricula, as well as the attempt to create close ties between formal and informal education. The new elements concerned work-related training and the participation of museums and museum sections which had previously played a much more limited role. In addition, the final exhibition was mounted in the large space of the electrical technology museum and the temporary exhibition room, which enabled greater integration between museum artefacts and the work produced by the schools