MoVimparo. Twelve years of action research at a kindergarten: 2008–2020

The analysis of the seventy-three educational projects of the MoVimparo website (https://memoesperienze.comune.modena.it/movimparo/index.html) has outlined a series of general guidelines that each teacher can adapt to the outdoor education projects designed for their groups of children. With reference to the extrapolation of the relevant parts, their characteristics and the elements that make up the analyszed projects, an interesting pedagogical picture emerges, especially since it is built on the basis of real educational activities carried out in a decade of preschool activity. The teachers have shown that they know how to get involved and measure themselves with the daily work tools that they have highlighted in four main elements: a) teaching approach, b) methodology, c) characteristics of the setting, d) partnership. These four elements, deduced from the project’s analysis, underline an educational approach centredcentered on the child and on his needs. Active and open didactics, spaces prepared in structured and unstructured forms, various materials, are always organized and combined by the adult to give space to the spontaneous action of the child, as in the last century hypothesized Maria Montessori: It is true that the child develops in his environment through activity itself, but he needs material means, guidance and an indispensable understanding. It is the adult who provides these necessities. . .. If [the adult] does less than is necessary, the child cannot act meaningfully, and if he does more than is necessary, he imposes himself upon the child, extinguishing [the child’s] creative impulses. (Montessori, 1956, p.154) In this sense, outdoor education represents a winning strategy for teachers, thanks to its great operational adaptability of teaching. Each teacher, observing their children, can carry out educational projects appropriate to his/her school, to the spaces and times available, being able to give children great operational freedom without losing sight of the educational objectives of the school. Finally, the data reported showed how outdoor education has also involved parents who, over time, have shared and supported this educational model. This work asks for a pedagogy that offers a correct design of an environment in which the child can work spontaneously with concentration, commitment, joy and satisfaction. Almost a great play, that characterizes every child guided by an adult to act with freedom and responsibility (Cossentino, 2006, p.66).