From the Dolomites to the Atlas mountains

A journey, an exhibition and a documentary, but mostly a new educational path. “From the Dolomites to the Atlas mountains” is the research and exploration experience of the class 5°E of the Russel High school from Cles (TN) along with the cultural mediators from MUSE’s geology department.

In October 2014, the class has been leading the project about discovering the culture, geology and society of Morocco, between modern Europe and the North African nomadic traditions. Thanks to the collaboration with the museum the journey became an experiment of a new way of teaching and releasing scientific information. The group paid attention to respect all the original cultural elements and to discover them in a sustainable way.

Now a documentary and an exhibition show all the aspects of the project. Like a travel book, they tell about the oasis, the cooperatives and the villages visited by the group along with Christian Casarotto and Elena Bertoni, the cultural mediators from the geology department of MUSE.

Geology and paleontology

Morocco’s mountains are bleak and this makes it possible for the observers to understand how rocks and mountains were formed. The students have studied rocks that are as old as the dolomites or even older, following the main steps of animal evolution. They have been prepared in the classroom before the trip by the MUSE researchers, who also supported them during the field activities.

Society and anthropology

The students have been living in contact with the local population. They visited the famous ancient citadel made of clay Ait-Ben-Haddou, an Unesco world heritage. They also learned about the woman’s situation and the structure of families in the rural society of Morocco.

Sustainable tourism

Sustainable tourism means travelling respecting people, culture and nature, appreciating the local heritages. The group chose sustainable tourism regarding food, shopping and the overnight stay. The tour operators involved in this trip in Morocco were members of the local communities and they guarantee that most of the money spent by a traveler goes to the people who provided services for tourists.

Source:www.muse.it