On April 3, 2023, ITIS Armellini High School in Rome hosted the first of the Oracle Academy Building the Future Training Labs, in which 20 students from two different technical schools in Rome participated.
Prof. Marzia Gentilivi, computer science teacher at the Armellini Institute, told us how the initiatives promoted by Oracle Academy in schools are fundamental to innovative learning, professional growth and future employability of students. Following are her words.
“For this experience we selected five students from each third and fourth grade, choosing those who, in addition to having problem-solving skills and the ability to work in a team, were always willing to learn and had a lot of curiosity.
Training Laboratories are important experiences for kids because they acquire new knowledge and technical skills by improving their soft skills, confronting themselves in a challenging environment. Students sharpen their problem-solving skills by learning to work quickly and focus on results, to be flexible and to know how to adapt their approach to work.
With these initiatives, they have the opportunity to have an experience in which everyone can learn something and are immersed in a process of enrichment that they cannot experience in other types of activities. The students find themselves collaborating in working groups with people who have different skills and backgrounds and are used to different working methods, to try to create innovative solutions to the proposed problem.
Collaboration, innovation and a sense of challenge are the ideal ingredients to stimulate young people to reason, to open up to STEAM subjects, and to bring them closer to an increasingly technological future. This kind of experience in the school certainly represents an innovative teaching tool, a creative way to learn through concrete projects and challenges.
It becomes a scenario for the development of systems thinking and teamwork, a focal point for the exchange of ideas, and for developing an approach to cooperation. This methodology, in which knowledge is “built” through the exploration and analysis of real-world problems to arrive at solutions in an active and creative way, is extremely effective, highly inclusive, and can guarantee the commitment and involvement of young people.
For a long time, the school has been trying to minimize the use of lessons, which give the outdated idea of students as empty containers to be filled with concepts transferred by the teacher. Rather, learning by experience is preferred, where an initial solicitation ― which can be a question, a problem to solve or a project to explore ― gives rise to more or less formal learning paths, in which knowledge is used to transform it into skills and practical skills, including through more innovative teaching methodologies such as game-based learning. The Oracle Academy project therefore fits perfectly with the way of working which above all characterizes a technical school.
The training experiences are becoming popular among companies; gamification and serious gaming are gaining ground both for professional training and for the development of soft skills.
By participating in these initiatives, young people learn the fundamental skill of getting involved and being ready when they find themselves collaborating with innovative companies that are experimenting with these methodologies. For our students, participating in a challenge can prove essential not only to develop all the skills mentioned above, but also to improve their abilities to respond to requests for personal and professional growth which are accelerators of careers in technological fields. It can thus increase their employability, with job placement even immediately after graduation.”