Expedition to the South Pole: a role play for pupils

Abstract

The idea to communicate and to share the experience of the scientific research in Antarctica with the public and with the school is a challenge that a team of INGV researchers, engaged for many years in scientific missions in Antarctica, carries on with great enthusiasm within the several outreach activities of the Italian National Program for Antarctic Research (PNRA). The present work reports the experience of the outreach laboratory “Expedition to the South Pole”, realized in the frame of events organized by INGV and dedicated to the primary school (8-11 years). The educational themes developed within the laboratory concern the research in Antarctica, with particular focus on the human aspects, the geophysics and the progress of new technologies. The innovative aspect of the laboratory stands in the strategy to deal with Antarctica with an educational aim, proposing Antarctica as a natural laboratory, not only from a scientific point of view, but also as a laboratory of human experiences sharing. The laboratory is realized by role playing methodology. Kids play the roles with the goal to acquire the knowledge on Antarctica, to explore its characteristics, to experiment an emotional education through individual and team experiences. A video of the laboratory was played to demonstrate the positive response of the pupils to the proposed activities. The video is structured as a tutorial for teachers that want to include the Antarctic themes in their lessons through an original approach. The presentation will illustrate the laboratory, also by means of the video excerpts, to show the outcome of the proposed experiences and to propose the role play technique to educate the new generations on the several meanings of the scientific activities in Antarctica