The Sky on Earth project: a synergy between formal and informal astronomy education

In this paper we present the Sky on Earth project funded in 2008 by the Italian Ministry of Instruction, Research and University, inside the annual public outreach education program. The project’s goal was to realize an open-access and stable astronomical garden, where children, teachers and citizens could be engaged in investigations about day and night sky phenomena. The project was designed taking into account our prior researches in formal and informal astronomy education, and realized in the garden of GiocheriaLaboratori. This is an educational structure of Sesto San Giovanni municipality (near Milan, Italy), we are collaborating with for long time, devoted to out-of-school K-6 science education since 1987. Setting and tools were designed with the help of a group of students of the “Altiero Spinelli” vocational school and their science and technology teachers. Since its installation, the astronomical garden has been used in workshops and open-days, teachers’ preparation courses and research experiences. We might conclude that the Sky on Earth project represents an example of a positive and constructive collaboration between researchers, educators, high school students and teachers. It may also be considered as a potential attempt to face on the well-known gap between research in science education and school practices.