PAPER VOLCANOES LAB: ENGAGING YOUNG CHILDREN WITH EARTH SCIENCE IN KENYA. WHAT WE HAVE ACCOMPLISHED SO FAR

Abstract

Although most of East Africa’s volcanoes are currently dormant they could erupt in the future, while 25% of Africa’s volcanoes had eruptions in the last 100 years. How to be prepared and respond to natural hazards such as volcanoes, need to be communicated to young children, learning settings and communities. The project presented here has been funded by IUGG and supported by IAVCEI within the priority area Geoscience Education and Outreach in Developing Countries. It aims to present the Paper Volcanoes toolkit and create a dialogue between science and the indigenous knowledge to communicate natural hazards to children considering their identity and context. The Paper Volcanoes Laboratory toolkit is an experience based activity enriched with pedagogical elements, created within the INGV Educational Group, to help early childhood children to familiarize themselves with natural hazards including volcanoes. The project focuses on the Turkana rural setting in Kenya where the regional volcanism is known by geologists or indigenous people through their traditional stories. Here we present the methodology used, the preparatory pilot involving four universities students and Turkana early childhood teachers to experience the Paper volcano toolkit and the extended pilot. The pilot was run in September 2022 in Lodwar and consisted of four themed workshops involving stakeholders, teachers (40) and elders. The pilot enabled teachers to hear the stories about the Turkana mountains, experience the paper toolkit, to share ideas, to connect with geoscience specialists and sociologists.