Bringing the heavens into the peripheries: STEM workshops in marginal urban zones

The partnership established in 2021 between Associazione Il Cielo itinerante and the Bracco Foundation aims to kindle the interest of children in science using innovative and inclusive learning methods and by focusing on city zones suffering from socio-economic deprivation. The project enters deprived areas with elevated school drop-out rates and sets up various types and formats of science workshops (Italia Brilla, Operazione Cielo). Since 2021, the Bracco Foundation has been working alongside Associazione Il Cielo Itinerante as a supporter of STEM workshops in the Greater Milan area (Quarto Oggiaro, Giambellino, and Baranzate). The project seeks to counter educational poverty and encourage the development of scientific vocations, especially among girls. The goal is to ensure equal access by both sexes to STEM subjects and to promote inclusiveness and the equality of representation of women in the scientific professions.

Even before the pandemic, Italian children of both sexes in situations of socio-economic difficulty were underperforming in maths and science. The last two years have only exacerbated the imbalance, which is why Associazione Il Cielo Itinerante has broadened and diversified its work and focused its action in places where investment in education is most badly needed so that local children might look forwards to a brighter future.