ALBERT

Description: Strategies of risk mitigation become effective when citizens facing hazardous phenomena adopt rational behaviours that contribute to the lowering of the risk. This is more likely to occur when endangered communities share a widespread understanding of natural phenomena and their impacts. To reach this goal, educational and outreach materials are often organised around the descriptions of the natural process and its effects. Unfortunately, however, receiving correct information does not automatically grant the adoption of safe behaviours. Our teaching efforts may fail because of pre-existing biases, beliefs, and misconceptions. The identification of these biases is important to plan effective educational campaigns capable of providing the concepts that are needed to actually inform citizens' choices about natural hazards. In this work, we present the results of an unconventional workshop on volcanic risk that we proposed to primary and secondary schools (aged 6–13) in Italy. The workshop is meant to explore the mental models that kids and youngsters have about volcanic eruptions, and it takes the form of a creative exercise. We asked the pupils to write and illustrate a story in four frames, describing the onset and outcome of an imaginary eruption. All stories were then presented to the class and always provided useful hints to spark discussion about volcanic processes and hazards. As a whole, the collected stories provide a multifaceted description of volcanic eruptions and their potential impacts as imagined by the kids. A careful analysis of this material provided several insights useful to improve future outreach material and educational plans. The workshop is simple to reproduce, even remotely, and could easily be extended to different types of hazards. While very simple to organise, this approach grants the secure engagement of most participants and offers a very different perspective on pupils' understanding of natural phenomena.

Description: Published

Description: 205–219

Description: 2TM. Divulgazione Scientifica

Description: 3TM. Comunicazione

Description: N/A or not JCR

Description: We present here the results of a five-years-long earthquake educational project aiming to commemorate the hundredth anniversaries of five large Northern Apennines earthquakes occurred between 1916 and 1920 in the areas of: Rimini (1916, Mw 6.1), Valtiberina (1917, Mw 5.9), Romagna Apennines (1918, Mw 5.9), Mugello (1919, Mw 6.3) and Garfagnana (1920, Mw 6.5) earthquakes. We saw these anniversaries as the occasion for leading the Northern Apennines people to rediscover their past, in a positive way, and to improve their awareness of the earthquake as a natural feature of the regions in which they live. The activities that we planned for schools students encouraged them to go hunting for traces of the earthquakes of one hundred years ago in their home towns and to rediscover the memories and traditions of their communities. Together with their teachers, we also led the teenagers to find creative ways to involve the grownups in the process of discovery and knowledge. The Project had to cope with two emergencies: the great Central Italy earthquake of 2016-2017 and the Covid-19 epidemic. However, these stumbling blocks did not deter teachers and students from taking part in the process actively and even enthusiastically. Their families and communities were actively involved too. This experience taught us some valuable lessons. First of all, we learned to adapt the project, as we had conceived it at the start, to a wide gamma of social and cultural contexts. Not all the involved communities were equally aware of the level of seismic risk they are exposed to. On the affluent Adriatic coast, where tourism is the main source of income, past earthquakes are something best forgotten, by citizens and administrators alike. On the contrary, in the poorer inland mountain areas (Forlivese Apennines, Mugello, Garfagnana and Lunigiana) a more down-to-earth attitude prevails: earthquakes are looked upon as something that can and does happen and people are quick to grasp how important it is to contribute to initiatives whose aim is reducing seismic risk. Thus, we had to adapt our approach to the different contexts, modifying each time the activities we proposed to the schools with the aim of obtain the best possible results from each situation. Presentiamo i risultati di un progetto di educazione al rischio sismico attivato in occasione dei centenari di cinque terremoti storici che hanno colpito l’Appennino settentrionale tra gli anni 1916 e 1920 e precisamente i terremoti di Rimini 1916 (Mw 6.1), Valtiberina 1917 (Mw 5.9), Appennino romagnolo 1918 (Mw 5.9), Mugello 1919 (Mw 6.3) e Garfagnana 1920 (Mw 6.5). Abbiamo pensato di utilizzare questi anniversari come punto di partenza per accompagnare i cittadini a riappropriarsi del loro passato in modo positivo, facendo crescere la loro consapevolezza del terremoto come un carattere del loro ambiente naturale. A tal fine, nelle attività realizzate con le scuole, abbiamo incoraggiato gli studenti a cercare le tracce dei terremoti di un secolo fa nell’ambiente urbanizzato e a indagare le memorie e le tradizioni ancora presenti nelle comunità. Insieme ai loro insegnanti abbiamo spinto i ragazzi a trovare modi creativi per coinvolgere gli adulti in questo processo di scoperta e conoscenza. Il progetto è stato messo alla prova dal forte terremoto dell’Italia centrale (2016­2017) e dall’epidemia di Covid­19, ma nonostante queste difficoltà insegnanti e studenti hanno partecipato con grande interesse a questo percorso e hanno coinvolto nelle attività del progetto le famiglie e le comunità locali. Anche noi abbiamo imparato nuove lezioni. Un aspetto importante che abbiamo appreso è il bisogno di adattare il progetto a contesti sociali e culturali che si sono rivelati molto diversi. Le comunità coinvolte non condividono lo stesso livello di consapevolezza del rischio: sulla costa adriatica, a vocazione turistica, i terremoti sono qualcosa che è meglio dimenticare, sia da parte dei cittadini che dalle amministrazioni. Al contrario, nell’Appennino forlivese, nel Mugello, in Garfagnana e Lunigiana, i terremoti sono una presenza costante e le persone si sono sentite subito coinvolte in un processo attivo di riduzione del rischio e di attenzione quotidiana. Questo ci ha spinto ad adattare ogni volta l’approccio ai diversi contesti, modificando le proposte di attività che abbiamo realizzato nelle scuole.

Description: Lavoro realizzato nell’ambito della Convenzione fra INGV e Dipartimento della Protezione Civile, Allegato A, tematica “M”.

Description: Published

Description: 1-40

Description: 5SR TERREMOTI - Convenzioni derivanti dall'Accordo Quadro decennale INGV-DPC

Description: JCR Journal