BERGAMO
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
Within this course students will reflect and expand their knowledge about a wide range of physical activities that could take place within cities and about how the urban environment could afford or thwart physically active behaviours. After completing the course, students will achieve the following objectives:
· Knowledge concerning the history, theories and frameworks about promoting active cities.
· Knowledge about different barriers and facilitators of physical activity within cities.
· Knowledge about the impact of physical activity in public spaces on people’s lifestyles and related effect on health and wellbeing.
· Knowledge about activities that sport scientists could lead within different urban contexts and spaces.
· Ability to design and deliver effective and engaging activities for people with different needs, interests, characteristics and capacities (e.g. different age groups) within different urban contexts and spaces.
· Ability to assess physical activity in different contexts.
Course Prerequisites
Preferably, to have passed the exam of English Language B1 (first year) or to possess equivalent language certification
Teaching Methods
In the first part, the teaching activity is proposed through lectures including requests specifically formulated to enhance thoughtful processes and problem-based learning.
In the second part, field observations of public spaces, using standardised methods, will be carried out.
The third part will be organized through group works (cooperative learning, flipped classroom) for the planning of public spaces in relation with bodily practices.
Assessment Methods
The assessment of the objectives of this course will include two modalities:
· An intermediate assessment concerning the design of individual or group projects concerning physical activity experiences for a specific case study that should be completed by the end of the course. The evaluation of the project will contribute to the final evaluation of the course.
An oral exam (that will have a higher impact on the final evaluation compared to the individual project) that will aim to evaluate the knowledge achieved by students during the course. Students will have the opportunity to discuss a case study they selected, and they will be asked to answer questions about the course content.
Contents
The course will include both lectures and practical sessions. The lectures will address different themes linked with active cities including history, policies, models, culture, socio-economic factors, conflicts, public health and physical activity measurement as well as barriers and facilitators of physical activity. Students will be invited to examine successful examples of physical activity promotion within cities as well as examples of formal and informal physical activity engagement in public spaces. Furthermore, students will be invited to reflect on different potential barriers to physically active lifestyles within cities and on ways to overcome these barriers in the future. The course will also examine the needs of different populations including people from different age group and people with disabilities. The practical lessons will aim to translate the content from the lectures into practical examples of physical activities tailoring different groups. Lastly, students will be invited to co-create activities as well as to explore and observe different urban spaces to reflect on the opportunities they offer.
Online Resources
More information
For the student not attending the course, a Distance Learning (FAD) system will be activated. The procedure to take part in the FAD system will be presented in the first lesson of the course or upon contact with the teacher. For Erasmus students it is possible to agree the exam program upon a meeting with the teacher.