With new eyes: teaching students to discover their local landscape and communicate it with technologies

In a world ever more connected, where social media and User-Generated Content play a major role into sketching opinions, supporting decisions, putting places and events on the spotlight, teaching younger generations to appreciate and communicate their local heritage is of paramount relevance. The project presented in this chapter (ScAR – School Activates Resources) turns students (grades K-12) from passive listeners into active players, through a process of discovery, recognition and communication of their own heritage. We present the context, the main pedagogical approaches and the organization of the project as well as the array of activities put into place. Qualitative results (from interviews to participating teachers) help conveying the flavor of the experience and its impact. The goal is to propose a model of education for cultural heritage through educational experiences supported by technologies that can be replicated in other contexts.