Scientist in the classroom: Earth Science outreach experiences

Abstract

Spreading Earth Science knowledge, and specifically concerning Earthquakes and Volcanoes, is a way to trigger fundamental changes in attitude towards our Planet and Natural Hazards. The Milano-Pavia division of Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) is working towards this end within the frame of “Conosciamo la Terra”, an International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE) 2008 project intended to address school kids and to fill the gap between science and school world . The work was done in low risk areas, where earthquakes and volcanoes do not belong to daily life and the topics could be presented in a way that enable to involve mainly the cognitive component of learning. Lectures were done directly in school so that students could be easily lead by the scientist in a trip towards knowledge. We tested the procedure in 16 different schools spanning the whole range of school education and involved 42 classes for more than a thousand students and highlight that the interest towards the topics we deal with in the project might not be directly linked to the geology of the area where addressed people live. Thanks to the work done here we could challenge the dialogue between science and society and promote the role of scientist in society as well as that of institution, like INGV, that support a new public images of science and researchers.