DISCOVER THE MAGIC OF SOFT TECHNOLOGY APPLIED TO OUR ENVIRONMENT AND EVERYDAY LIFE
STEAM Explorers
Did you know that plants are intelligent? These organisms, so often underestimated, have amazing abilities. They are able to communicate, to help each other, to move and solve problems, while creating a sustainable system that is the eldest on earth. How can we learn from them? The program navigates the STEAM territory where botany, social and design research meet. Students will be introduced to vegetal knowledge and will prepare to address some of the problems emerging from the environmental and social transformations that affect the contemporary world.
METHODOLOGY
The program introduces students to several contents and
competences:
- STEAM, sensors and the vegetal world;
- Plants’ behavior and social applications;
- Design and nature inspired innovation;
- Creative thinking design.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
STEAM, SENSORS AND THE VEGETABLE WORLD
Smart gardens, green boxes, irrigations systems and social network monitoring assistants are some of the applications that students will experiment with while observing how the computational process sustains plants to talk to each other, to make optimized decisions, to communicate with animals in order to preserve the species. On hand, experimentation will guide students in the world of coding, sensors applications and scientific experiments.
PLANTS’ BEHAVIOR AND SOCIAL APPLICATIONS
The community dynamics of the vegetal world create an efficient system of supportive interaction rich in innovative solutions that are today transversally studied and applied in the social field, up to the definition of strategic solutions applicable to virtuous social policies, innovative sustainable actions and new management models.
DESIGN AND NATURE-INSPIRED INNOVATION
The human species have been observing nature for inspiration for a very long time, from buildings and bridges to materials, textures and much more. Examining the design of nature has aided in the development of almost every aspect of our lives, and most of us benefit from these inspired revelations several times a day.
CREATIVE THINKING
No matter what is the field of your interest, creative thinking is an incredible tool that can boost any scholar practice. Innovation, ideational process, context understanding, problem-solving and self-improvement are some of the elements that play a significant role in the construction of an inclusive and co-creative team group.
PROJECT-BASED LEARNING
Students will navigate skills ranging from biology to sociology, from architecture to engineering, interact in a group of researchers with an applicative perspective that will sustain the design of a personal or a co-created project.
BASIC COURSE
DAY 1 PLANTS ARE INTELLIGENT
Let’s warm up! Plants competences, botanical knowledge and green resilience
DAY 2 COMPUTATIONAL THINKING AND GREEN SOLUTIONS
Laboratory experiences, soft technology and vegetal observation.
DAY 3 CODING AND LAB EXPERIENCES
Laboratory experiences interlacing plant behavior and block programming.
DAY 4 SENSORS AND LAB EXPERIENCES
Laboratory experiences with sensors and advanced programming.
DAY 5 DESIGN AND NATURE INSPIRED INNOVATION
Biomimicry, Green Design and sustainable solutions. The vegetal knowledge applied to Architecture, Urban Planning and Social Sciences.
DAY 6 INTO THE WILD: IOT AND TREES
Visit to the Piegaro Woods: a fully green and immersive experience where trees talk and play to save the planet: thanks to a latest-generation Tree Talker system based on the Internet of Things, the forest is equipped with sensors, providing data on various eco-physiological parameters.
DAY 7 GOODBYES
Departure of participants.
