The traditional way of teaching Astrophysics at school normally includes, at different levels, observational taxonomy, theoretical description of the physics of stellar interiors, stellar evolution, description of cosmological models, etc..
Astrophysics is an experimental/observational science and no experience on the instrumental side is passed to the students.
The Astronomical Observatory of Trieste intends to fill this hole offering the possibility to the students of carrying out real and complete astronomical observations from the school, guided by their teachers. The observation’s steps are

• Choice of the target, according to pre-agreed teaching paths
• Identification of the target on the sky
• Telescope pointing
• Definition of the exposure time
• Integration
• Data acquisition
• Data processing (calibration, true-color, details enhancement, etc.)
• Archiving (the final data will be owned, at the end, by the school, for later reference)

All the above steps are supervised by an astronomer in the dome at the Observatory, connected via video-conference, who will also provide all the explanations at any level.
More than one class can be connected at the same time with the Observatory, in case of special events.
Special training programs for the teachers are also foreseen in the project. One of the key points of this project is that the teaching paths, the observed targets and the on-line explanations may be tailored to any level of primary and/or secondary school, and may also be used at university level.