The museum enters the class and the class enters the museum

Scientific studies show that art can facilitate the understanding of reality and can help deaf children develop in the areas of: cognitive capabilities, skills of abstraction and capacity to make meaning of the surrounding world. In Italy there are few museums that offer deaf children the possibility of sensory access to programs and services. Schools are also lacking in programs that use written texts and images to maximize on the use of the visual channel, a channel in which deaf individuals primarily receive information from the outside world with.

"The Museum enters the class and the class enters the museum" is an art education project intended to stimulate and strengthen the cognitive, linguistic and the socio-relational potential of deaf children by fostering peer integration among hearing peers.

The content was developed in collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (MET).The idea was conceived by Dr.Hollie Ecker,  Art Historian and former U.S. Fulbright scholar, and Dr. Carlo di Biase, Art Historian and Art Educator for primary schools for the deaf. Di Biase is a winner of the “2004/2005 Roberto Wirth Scholarship”.

Di Biase specialized at Gallaudet University, Washington DC, in methodology of teaching art to deaf children from 0 to 6 years of age.

From 2006 to 2009, deaf and hearing children from the 173° Circolo Didattico di Roma (ISISS) and a school in Cossato (BI) have been involved in the construction of two modules, each dedicated to a topic in art history. The modules implemented so far, “Mosaics and “The Bath”, have adopted a bilingual education and multi-modal approach, characterized by the use of Italian and Italian Sign Language and the use of different modes (tactile, visual, written) to learn and understand. The main objectives were to stimulate the senses and to meet the diverse needs of children involved. Each child, in fact, has a unique way of learning, and this is true for both deaf and hearing children. The activities took place in the classroom and at various museums.

The project produced results relating to personal and cultural growth of children in the following areas:

1. Intellectual / Cognitive: stimulated creativity and openness to new horizons;

2. Linguistics, through the use of a bilingual model (exposure to contemporary spoken language and Italian Sign Language) which facilitated learning and communication amongst of deaf and hearing children within a school context;

3. Perceptual / Body: development of motor skills, eye-hand coordination, use of senses and body awareness;

4. Relational: developed communication and socialization skills among deaf and hearing children.

Project Status

"Mosaics". This is the first module that was built in 2006. It was done at the ISISS of Rome and was titled "The Mosaics of Ancient Rome. In 2007, it was done again in Cossato and was titled, “The Mosaics of the Piemontese Middle Ages.  The Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, in Rome, for children attending ISISS, and the Dome of Sant'Evasio, Casale Monferrato (Al), for children in Cossato were the two museums involved on the project.

"The Baths": The second module was built in 2008 at the ISISS of Rome and was titled "The Baths of Ancient Rome”. Children were given the opportunity to visit the ancient Roman Baths of the “Villa Quintili" and received a lesson in art history. The second module, was developed at the school Cossato in 2009 and provided an educational trip to the Acqui Terme (AL).