A journey with Futurama: environmental impact, social impact and technological progress

This is the story of a journey between technology and sustainability experienced by the second-year students of the Sciascia and Bufalino High School in Erice (TP), within the world of theFuturama project. This project, selected by Con i Bambini as part of the Fund for combating educational poverty among minors and co-financed by Fondazione Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, offered students the opportunity to participate in three laboratory courses organized by the partner Associazione Centro ELIS, focused on Programming and Robotics, Cyber Security, and Sustainability. Below is the account, written by the students, of their experience of discovery, learning, personal, and collective growth.

“A few months ago, our journey with Futurama began. At the helm are Daniele, a Cybersecurity specialist, with his charming Roman accent and his ability to make everything enjoyable. The other Daniele, a Sustainability specialist, with his clear explanations and Andrea, who greeted us with a smile every morning. All of them helped us open our minds through three laboratory courses: Cybersecurity, A Sustainable World, and Programming and Robotics. Availability, ability, and kindness were therefore the essential ingredients for our involvement.

**

Linux operating system, commands, permissions and groups, packages, processes, networks, models, routers, and protocols, Python. And more: algorithms, G Colab, Boolean logic, iterative cycles, functions, modules, lists and dictionaries, ColabTurtle. So much knowledge acquired, buzzing in our minds, waiting to settle, hoping that our peers from other schools can also experience and learn such essential topics today.

Guided exercises to understand how to work in the world of IT, and final tests provided us with self-assessment to verify the completeness of our learning.

The A Sustainable World module was an intense reflection on social and environmental problems with a focus on the 2030 Agenda. Involvement and empathy in the context allowed us to imagine situations and problems not present in familiar places. We learned to discuss and relate to each other to confirm our desire to “be useful” in the world around us.”

**

If you want to continue following the activities of the Futurama project, you can check the project sheet (here's thelink), visit the project blog (here's the link), and follow us on Facebook and Instagram. To participate or get more information, contact Daniela Avanzato at d.avanzato@fcagrigentotrapani.it.

The Futurama project has been selected by Con i Bambini as part of the Fund for combating educational poverty among minors and co-financed by the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti Foundation. The Fund was created through an agreement between banking foundations represented by Acri, the National Forum of the Third Sector, and the Government. It supports interventions aimed at removing economic, social, and cultural barriers that prevent minors from fully benefiting from educational processes. To implement the Fund's programs, the social enterprise Con i Bambini was established in June 2016, a non-profit organization wholly owned by the CON IL SUD Foundation. www.conibambini.org

**