Technology For Social Development

The unexpected society development of the last decades has substantially modified people’s habits and lives. The change mainly involved: technology innovation, globalisation, climate change to which follow an increased attention to sustainability and planet conservation. Technology and human activities has reached the potential to affect the environment; at the same time, technology can solve multiple issues caused by the ecosystem. Moreover, technology has radically modified the way of communicating creating new relations and a different approach to information. Also in this case, it can create problems if used in an appropriate way, or it can be a powerful tool of development, if properly used, for instance to acquire new knowledge, as means of inclusion or to unite a continent.
“Technology For Social Development” emerges from the idea of five young university students who operate as “tutors” within creative technology labs addressed to children and young people of the area, at the association Amici del Villaggio’s Fab-Lab centre. The young tutors, together with the leaders of the association, propose, during this phase, to elaborate the themes of new technologies to give young people a chance to experiment educational robotics techniques, coding, basic automation and electronic, 3D printing and drawing, within a creative and free environment, which take advantage of participants’ talent.
By teaching STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics + Art), in a playful, and creative way, non-formal environment, it is possible to teach technologies as genetic, robotics, nanotechnology and TIC (informational technology), logic thinking, creating premises of change for many young people and provide them the instruments to face the challenges of their generations in order to design a better and cleaner world, for themselves and the planet.
The project’s general focus will be technology experimentation, within a non-formal and collaborative educational context, to practice and answer to some of the 17 objectives proposed by ONU with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs - https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/).
The project takes place in two main phases:
“Tech STEAM”, it is 6 residential days, in a facility in Bassano del Grappa, during the month of August 2019, open to European youth worker, to enhance learning methods, learn to transfer basic technology concepts, exchange experiences within the youth field between European associations, improve education quality.
A series of exercices and workshops, will provid the necessary tools to learn how to develop playful-creative environments within each group. Technology will be considered as “tool for change” to solve environmental and pollution issues, instrument of integration, personal growth, artistic expression, proper use of media.
“Inclusive Technology”, is a 8 days youth exchange for young Europeans to put in practice the best techniques developed during the first phase. 35 young people will have the opportunity to practice the issues presented by the 2030 Onu’s Agenda, trying to provide a solution, developing an invention. Will our youth be able to devise a new technology useful to humanity, related to the respect of water, pollution, migrations? It seems like in passionate environment like these it is possible. The Future Ready methods will be applied, which has already offered interesting results with the circular approach within working groups. The working basis for the labs will be the sequence: Ispire, Research, Design, Sketch, Make and Show. INSPIRE – inspiration will be taken from the group according to the agenda’s issues, RESEARCH – researching and learning to research, DESIGN – ideas will be exchanged after choosing the issue to solve, SKETCH – drawing of the possible idea and solution, MAKE – construction of prototype that gives shape to the ideas, SHOW – public presentation of the final idea, reflection on the experience and future approach.
We consider this approach useful to partly answer to the objectives of the 2020 Europe’s strategy, improving participants’ competences level and therefore the chance of employment, including who would potentially be excluded, engaging them to research and good education, with a particular attention to sustainability and safe environment.