Boundless Education’s project-based ‘Quests’ are a key component of each of our cohorts. The Explorers taking part in our 3-month April-June Experience will be embarking on the perfect springtime Quest: Playful Parks for Everyone. And there may be no better place than our Tuscany location to bring this to life.
What is a Quest?
In summary, Quests are interdisciplinary projects that our students (Explorers) work on for the full duration of a cohort.
They learn about real-world phenomena and issues and are encouraged to explore beyond the content to form their own purposeful connections to the topic. Our end-of-cohort Learning Celebrations allow our Explorers to proudly showcase their findings and project outcomes.
Our Quests are based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Also referred to as Global Goals, these are environmental, social, and economic topics and issues that are used as age-appropriate learning themes in our curriculum.
Boundless Life has placed the UN SDGs front and centre in our Explorers’ learning journey with us because when young people realise they can draw on their passions to have a positive impact on the world, they discover the purpose in their learning.
Tip: You can learn more about our Quests and why they are so critical to the Boundless Education curriculum and approach here.
Playful Parks for Everyone
Our ‘Playful Parks…’ Quest is based on UN SDG #11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.
Children will learn about the different aspects that contribute to a sustainable city including housing, transportation systems, natural and cultural heritage, disaster resistance, and public and green spaces. Children will focus on the impact of good mental and physical health on sustainable living. They will explore how parks provide places for people to play and relax, as well as how they reduce air pollution and the impact of climate change.
Playful Parks with Petra!
Petra is our wonderful Boundless Education Director in Tuscany and has been happily living in our Pistoia location since its launch in January 2023. There’s no better person to bring our ‘Playful Parks…’ Quest to glorious life for our young Explorers. Here is a sneak peek at some of the activities she’s putting the finishing touches on:
🔬 Science
“We’ll discuss topics like necessities of life; atmosphere, climate, and weather systems, and focus on questioning, discussing and conducting experiments. So this could be anything from discovering how the climate in Italy has changed throughout the years, to observing weather changes from day to day (we have the fabulous Tuscan mountains providing us with a great place to observe from the windows!).”
🎾 “PE weaves in physical well-being, and that also comes through at lunchtimes where we discuss how nutritional choices affect their well-being. April-June will bring great picnic weather too!”
📖 English
“The focus is on information texts, report writing, comparative writing, speech writing, speaking and listening, performance poetry and stories with issues and dilemmas in-keeping with the theme of our Quest.”
Our Explorers could have the opportunity to find out about how different transportation methods compare to each other, sustainably speaking, and write a comparative piece on that. They could observe the weather, and compare that to typical Tuscan Climate. They can find out about how having parks and green spaces around us affects the general ecosystem, as well as discover how spending a day at a park affects our mental well-being. The Questing possibilities are endless!
Pistoia Parklife
Pistoia has some truly GREAT parks and hanging out at them is a major cultural pastime. Picture the scene: You are wandering down the narrow cobbled paths of the city with glorious Romanesque, Baroque and Gothic-style buildings towering over you on both sides - and suddenly you emerge into a huge open expanse of a vast square or verdant park.
This is where the citizens of Pistoia and their visitors come to congregate when the busy work is done. To catch-up. To gossip. To share an apéritif in the late afternoon sun or even have dinner! Yes, you heard me right. Pistoia’s parks have beautiful restaurants and bars within them. If you want to grab an Aperol Spritz and a bowl of fresh pasta whilst the kids are letting off steam after a day at the EC NOBODY is judging you in Pistoia. Parks are for everyone to relax and have fun - young, old and everyone in between.
If you and your family would love to discover the Playful Parks of Pistoia we would love to welcome you this April. Only a few spots remain!
