Science & Society

"IFOM for Schools" Programme

Educational Activities at IFOM 2008/2009

Also for this school year, IFOM offers diverse initiatives for students and high school teachers in partnership with the Lombardy Regional Education Office – Directorate General of Milano.
Novelties for 2008/2009 include:

an increase in the number of weekly courses for school children (from October to May);
the introduction of courses for school children between the ages 11 – 14, to open up the world of science to a younger age group;
refresher courses for teachers on experiments that are easy to perform in the classroom. Each participant will be given an educational kit containing biological materials and the educational multimedia required to repeat the experiments in the classroom laboratory.

Since its establishment, IFOM has been committed to performing high level research and to communicating science to the public. Particular attention has been devoted to high school teachers, as they represent the main dialogue channel between the world of research and youngsters.

galleria immagini Educational initiatives within the "IFOM for Schools" Programme are designed and realized by scientists and communication experts at IFOM, with the active and continued involvement of teachers. Teacher input is vital in identifying topics of particular relevance to school children and in devising the means for addressing these topics in the classroom.

Goals of the "IFOM for Schools" Programme:

To provide school children and the general public with updated scientific information that may be of use in the battle against disease.
To provide school children with training and career guidance
To foster active cooperation between researchers and teachers in order to promote educational research and innovation projets and to ensure the smooth transfer of these initiatives to the classroom.

"IFOM for Schools" is recognised by the Lombardy Regional Education Office (Ufficio Scolastico Regionale per la Lombardia) [link opens new window] as a Programme of excellence, integrating research and education. All educational activities are carried out in partnership with the Regional Education Office. The agreement between IFOM for Schools and the Lombardy Regional Education Office is stated in a memorandum of understanding.

In 2007, around 250 teachers and 1,700 students participated in guided tours, conferences, educational laboratory sessions, summer internships, theoretical and practical courses, educational research activities and events at the Genoa Science Festival.