The lesson of things: objects, didactic tools and educational materials in the pedagogical proposals of the 19th and 20th Century.

School does not only convey, in a different format, “traditional”  or higher knowledge to young people, it’s not mere spreading the news to youngsters, and it is not only a “practical” translation of theoretical-didactic information; expression of the cultural environment it lives in, it produces culture, presents proposals and plans future projects which have long term impact on society.

For all these reasons, it is necessary to study the ways in which school, with its teachers and students, produces culture and a series of related accounts based on fragile sources which can be easily forgotten or rejected.
The analysis and valorisation research project of the didactic materials of (schools for young children from 3 to 6 years) in Mantua municipalities (in cooperation with the Research Centre for Analysis and Valorisation of Cultural and School Products of Pavia University - Centro di ricerca interdipartimentale per lo studio e la valorizzazione dei beni culturali scolastici ed educativi) was founded in 2008 in order to discover and highlight the objects used day by day in schools: materials and didactic tools, texts produced by teachers and students and a series of published texts which are usually considered not very important but are quite interesting for the children’s educational contexts. Until now, the attention has been focused on the project “the lesson of things” – the title was almost entirely inspired (with a substantial variation) by the book by Charles Delon  (Leçon des choses) translated in Italian in 1890 (La lezione di cose).

“Things” and “environment” are essential elements of a training project for people who are part of social and physical spaces based on educational relationships. “The things’ lesson” is not only “ sensory gymnastics” which allows to develop children’s skills in order to ensure the entrance in the adults world; the research project wants to analyze, starting from the “things” used by children and adults in Mantua schools, the ways in which the pedagogical proposal is rooted in objects and contexts.

Also for this reason, an exhibition was organized in November 2008  which wanted to present to everybody, and not only to the experts of the sector, the cultural values of these “products”, the didactic objects in Mantua schools in the 19th and 20th Century. 

The digital collection for the history of scholastic culture, which is here presented, is the expression of a precise desire to study these topics in order to analyze the didactic objects of the municipality, starting from the schools but also launching a “call for things” to find  more accounts, objects and didactic tools from the far or more recent past.
The digital collection is the result of a research path started (and is itself object of in depth study and research) not only to highlight the didactic tools and the cultural production of schools in Mantua (especially early childhood services), but also to create a virtual information environment at the centre of a network of meanings, able to promote occasions to think about these topics for all those who care about educational contexts between past and present.

                                                                                                                                                                                      Monica Ferrari