3DDeSI – Overcoming Disabilities and Enforce Social Inclusion via 3D Printing

Ilaria Alpi Comprehensive Institute of Sarzana

The Istituto Comprensivo “Ilaria Alpi” is located in Sarzana – Italy, a Ligurian city of about 22,000 inhabitants and second urban center in the province of La Spezia. The schools are located throughout the town of Sarzana. Sarzana is a municipality of the Province of La Spezia part of Liguria region, in the northwest of Italy.

The ISA 13 gathers all the schools, from pre primary to secondary level of first grade, present in the municipal area for a total of over 1600 students and 180 teachers. The schools are divided into 5 Kindergarten with children aged 3 to 6, 8 Primary Schools with pupils from 6 to 11 and 2 Secondary Schools of first grade (Middle School) with students from 11 to 14.

The area is affected by a moderate migratory flow, the incidence of the population of foreign origin (mainly coming from Romania, Morocco and Albania) is about 7.8%. Some schools, in the first outskirts of the city, welcome nomadic communities, some of which have actually been settled for years. The socio-economic background of origin of the students is mainly medium-high, but obviously there are situations of socio-economic disadvantage.

The institute believes strongly in planning and network collaboration. This spirit has led to the development of various enriching projects for the training offer.

Istituto Comprensivo “Ilaria Alpi” is part of the GREEN Schools, a network of schools that have in common the attention for ecology and environmental protection.

Some of the goals:

Reduce, and eliminate, the consumption of plastic bottles.
Promote the recycling and reuse of everyday materials.
Promote scientific dissemination paths, organizing meetings between the school community and experts in the ecological and climatological fields.

To address one of the problems that most concerns schools,a competent team made up of a group of teachers from the institute deals with the fight against bullying by offering educational, training and support activities to students and families.

Thanks to PON and PNRR projects, the school was able to redesign the spaces and update teaching methodologies, guaranteeing an inclusive environment.

Obviously the Institute is very active in the sector of Erasmus Plus projects. In addition to being a partner and coordinator of some KA2 projects, it is also the winner of a KA1 accreditation project which will provide training and discussion opportunities for students and teachers.

Considering the experience acquired following the 3 Erasmus Plus projects regarding the 3D printer, the Istituto Comprensivo Ilaria Alpi has proposed a teachers training course on the use of 3D printing and scanning in which teachers from pre primary, primary and secondary schools are participating.

A 3D laboratory will soon be furnished in the newly built school to which hundreds of students will have access.