In the Italian schools, the topic of the classes has been sustainability. Depending on the group, the topic ranged from sustainable schools, sustainable houses, and sustainable cities. The ages of the students ranges from 15 to 19 years old.
The students use the “Lab. CAD” and environmental design, which are an essential part of the course of study in the last three years in the school. The architectural design gives technological, artistic, and creative competences and abilities concerning architecture. The Lab. CAD is about modern techniques and systems for the representation of the project and modelling in a digital way.
Within the Fablab School EU project, the students read the book “Sustainable cities” and focussed on the idea of transitional cities: a gradual change of the city and the society towards a way of life that is more adapted to the conservation of resources and the life of our planet. Students started with the idea of “how can architecture change the environment in a sustainable way for a planet to help man and his life?” They had several brainstorms on the effect of humans on our planet as well as new ideas to make the city more sustainable. From here, the students focussed on sustainable play grounds. All students designed a part of the play equipment (toys) for the playground, based on animals and made out of recycled materials. At first material such as recycled carton was chosen, keeping in mind the sustainability and preservation of the planet. However, other materials are being considered in later stages in order to be more suitable for the outside weather.
Up to now, there has been two twinning skypes: one between the teachers of the Italian and Spanish schools, and 4 other ones between Italian and Spanish classes, which included the teachers and some students. During these skypes, students and teachers had the opportunity to share their ideas and experiences.