Manuela Varini
La sostenibilità con la SUPSI al Greenday
SUPSI Image Focus
Manuela Varini graduated in biology from the University of Geneva. After various professional experiences and working for the WWF European Alpine Programme, she began teaching biology in secondary schools in our canton. In the field of education for sustainable development (ESS), she specialises in 'Outdoor Schooling', an area in which she strongly believes, having carried out countless projects involving many classes of different school orders, also collaborating with external partners active in sustainability issues. He coordinated the creation of the online platform 'Learning in Nature' on the Ticino school portal ScuolaLab of the DECS.
As president of the Ticino Natural Science Society for seven years, but also in other bodies, he has carried out a number of wide-ranging science and environmental education projects, including by organising science holidays.
For the past five years, she has coordinated the organisation of Greenday, an event held every year in Bellinzona and involving some eighty organisations for the promotion of sustainability in Ticino.
Since December 2023 she has been working at SUPSI-DFA/ASP as a lecturer in Natural Science Didactics for the Media Laboratory and MINT, and has joined the SUPSI sustainability group.
As president of the Ticino Natural Science Society for seven years, but also in other bodies, he has carried out a number of wide-ranging science and environmental education projects, including by organising science holidays.
For the past five years, she has coordinated the organisation of Greenday, an event held every year in Bellinzona and involving some eighty organisations for the promotion of sustainability in Ticino.
Since December 2023 she has been working at SUPSI-DFA/ASP as a lecturer in Natural Science Didactics for the Media Laboratory and MINT, and has joined the SUPSI sustainability group.
What balance can we draw from Greenday in recent years? How do you assess SUPSI's contribution?
It is an event that aims to raise awareness and actively involve people of all age groups in activities related to the promotion of sustainability and biodiversity in order to change their habits in everyday life. The event, which since its inception has been held on the Piazza del Sole in Bellinzona, has grown over the years with an increase in the number of participating organisations as well. It is an event that wants to address the issue of sustainability in a playful manner and without fuelling eco-anxiety, but by sending out positive messages that encourage people to make their own contribution to a better future.
SUPSI has been sponsoring the event since the very beginning and has always proposed many interesting activities on a variety of sustainability-related topics carried out in particular by the Department of Environment Construction and Design, the Department of Formation and Learning and the Department of Innovative Technologies. He also proposed educational excursions to discover the area as part of the event.
In your experience as a lecturer, how do you apply education for sustainable development in biology lessons? What is the interest of young people in the topic?
In the curricula of every school order, SSE is now a central pillar. Its principles can be applied across the board in any discipline. In particular, concrete interdisciplinary projects also linked to the Open School are an ideal laboratory for developing important skills that can be used in other areas. Young people in general are particularly sensitive and concerned about the environmental issues we are facing. Education also has a key role to play in empowering them, in transforming these fears into proactive initiatives and in enabling a real cultural change.
A project of yours that has remained in your hear
In particular, from 2021 to 2023, I coordinated and supervised the participatory didactic project on the redevelopment of the Cassarate river with a class from the Lugano 1 high school, with the involvement of some 20 experts, various organisations, and a primary school class from the Lugano school institute. The pupils were asked to share their ideas proposed for the promotion of biodiversity and urban use between the mouth and the Cornaredo Stadium.