Chiara Castelli, Professor of Philosophy and Human Sciences, has been working for over ten years in schools. She received her degree in Developmental Psychology and Education from the University of Turin. She specialized with a master’s degree in Scholastic Psychology at the Istituto Firera & Liuzzo in Milan and in Integrated Systemic Psychotherapy at the IDIPSI School in Parma. She has continued to study the ideas behind her thesis both clinically and at schools: “Games in Therapy: Curing Families through Play. Tools, Strategies and Emotions at Play.”
Together with her work group of “Our School” Professors, she has devised a course inspired by service learning that makes use of open data to identify walks that are accessible to everyone with a mapping of areas of cultural and historic interest. The course involves the entire class and their families in activities that help them grow up whilst having fun!
Today, with Chiara Castelli, this is the 36th instalment of “Our School” Professors. As usual, we share a short self-presentation video and then the interview with researcher Ilaria Gaudiello, who coordinates the works of the open source community of professors and educators.
INTERVIEW
Chiara, you are an expert in didactics, psychology and psychotherapy who has come to work with the “Our School” Community. What three aspects of this course development experience have you found most interesting?
It certainly was a new and enriching experience from various points of view. I met professors from other regions that introduced me to school communities that differ vastly from my local reality. I came into contact with tools I had never heard of and learned about the possibility of developing new courses for scholastic inclusion. “Our School” and FMD allowed me to measure myself with digital innovation, a field that had interested me deeply but which I then had to overlook due to other educational priorities. I knew that I was behind, but the emergency period allowed me to catch up, although it wasn’t easy. Participating in community initiatives allowed me to invest in professional training and bridge the digital gap that I was so aware of.
Digital tools and games play a strategic factor for inclusion in your activities as a teacher and coach. What are your dream projects?
My objective for this school year is to experiment with the project we have developed with FMD colleagues. When the course was developed, I was still on maternity leave, so I could not contribute to the experimental side of the project. Moreover, I am still studying to improve my skills in digital innovation (Google tools for education, storytelling, and specific learning software) and seeking to develop courses for students with a 104 certification that I follow in a twofold capacity: to reinforce individual cognitive abilities and to develop and unveil greater socio-relational resources by involving classmates. This type of activity promotes a greater collective wellbeing of everyone and makes it easier to adapt to social contexts to exchange resources.
Can you share an inspiring book with our community, one that allowed you to change point of view, or that helped you address a particular aspect of innovative and inclusive didactics?
What profoundly changed me as a clinical and educational professional were two people. I had the opportunity to work with my colleague Giorgio Beltrami, who taught me the importance of learning by doing and working in in groups to facilitate processes. This is one of his books that I heartily recommend: Lego® Serious Play® pensare con le mani. Valore per le persone, valore per le organizzazioni (Franco Angeli, 2017).
Another colleague, Margherita Colacino, a speech therapist, also helped me grow. We grew up together “professionally” and worked on various projects together in schools throughout the Province of Parma. All the projects focused on games. Together with other colleagues, I developed a web site that I continue to recommend to families and schools: 0-99.it | Giocare per non smettere di crescere!
