Le attività di informazione scientifica: uno studio sull'efficacia divulgativa

In the last years the assessment of the science outreach activity has become a fundamental moment of the planning and realization of the activities of the Laboratorio of Didattica and Divulgazione Scientifica of Rome. On the occasion of the XVIII Edizione della Settimana della Cultura Scientifica e Tecnologica, we have established to experiment a new effectiveness science outreach assessment centred on two observation points: the users of the initiatives and the laboratory staff. From this model two different assessment tools derived: the Satisfaction Questionnaires, filled by users and the Technical Questionnaires, filled by the laboratory staff. This formulation has allowed us to get complex information on the whole science outreach process and has guaranteed a better impartiality in the assessment. The data collected offers some information on the key elements to achieve and to improve the effectiveness of outreach of a scientific initiative

Il terremoto di Messina in scena alla scuola primaria

L'articolo illustra il lavoro svolto nell'ambito del Laboratorio di Didattica e Divulgazione scientifica dell'Ingv per portare in scena nella scuola primaria il terremoto di Messina. Si tratta di una delle prime esperienze di teatro scientifico presso il nostro ente

Educational strategies to reduce risk: a choice of social responsibility

This work develops a critical reflection on the activities for information, training and education conducted by a group of researchers of the INGV in recent years. In particular, our analysis, from an epistemological point of view, is between:  science outreach, the link between science and the world;  science teaching and its role of contact between science and school;  risk education, imaged as a process able to develop a culture of risk in relation to the territory in which we live. These issues are critically analyzed on the basis of experience gained since 1995. The educational methodologies tested in "peacetime", out of seismic events, with the EDURISK Project are compared with those experienced during the emergency in Abruzzo. Increasingly today, we refer to prevention as a primary strategy of defense against risk. But very often the responsibility of making prevention falls on the others as government, institutions, local authorities and the citizen perceive themselves as powerless against the inevitability of natural events and refer to the rulers for the implementation of effective prevention policies. As researchers, what are the most effective actions we can take to influence the risk reduction and motivate the choices of people? The effectiveness of our interventions must be based on scientific information, on a specific training, or must be reached to develop values, actions, awareness? Our interventions must be oriented and developed to inform, to train or to educate

The science of rumors

This study takes a soft scientific cut to talks about rumors, hoaxes and urban legends. Social psychology, more elegantly, uses the latin word rumor (rumour in British English), which means sound, voice, or gossip. In social, economical, political, cultural and scientific communication, rumors indicate news that is presumed true, that circulates without being confirmed or made evident. The scientific history of rumors is briefly described starting from the period of ancient Rome, throughout the Second World War and the Internet era, up to today. We will try to answer some questions that can be useful to scientists today. What are rumors? How are they born? How do they spread? By which laws are they regulated? How do we need to fight them? A final question regards the collocation of rumors into modern science. Science today is divided into ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ science (the latter of which generally lacks a basic mathematical structure); these terms, respectively, indicate the natural sciences, which investigate Nature, and the social/human sciences, which investigate man in all his facets. Maybe rumors can be thought of as a bridge suspended between two banks: those of ‘scientific truth’ and ‘human truth’

Relazione finale sulla sperimentazione didattica dei percorsi e strumenti del progetto EDURISK

Final report of Edurisk Project. Evaluation and results of project in 2005-200

Bringing Earth into the scene of a primary school: a science theatre experiment

Studies have shown that narrative is a valid tool to transmit science in a school context (Negrete&Lartigue 2010). We explored science theatre to promote earthquake knowledge and risk preparedness by readapting an old legend describing the 1908 Messina earthquake into a script, which was then performed in a primary school. We evaluated the experience by designing a questionnaire inspired by the Düss Fairy Tales method and a semi-structured questionnaire. Preliminary results strongly encourage science theatre as a mean to transfer knowledge and opens new opportunities to use this method as an agent of change in behaviour before and during an earthquake

Emergenza Sismica in Abruzzo Aprile 2009: Informazione e Formazione; Sostegno Psicologico; Percorsi Educativi

During the first two week the COES has carried out scientific, outreach and education, psychological activities only at the Di.Coma.C. headquarters. This experience has been extremely useful to understand the informative needs of both the relief staff and the ordinary people so more the EmerFOR project targeted to the teachers living in the first aid tent cities have been organized outside. The EmerFor project has been organized on three main topics: 1) provide basic knowledge on seismology and Italian seismicity to better understand the seismic sequence evolution in Abruzzo; 2) provide a detailed scientific but anyway easy to understand information on the seismic sequence evolution using a constantly updated seismicity map and plots of the daily event magnitude and daily event number versus time; 3) provide basic knowledge on the emotional response to catastrophic natural events like earthquakes and, if necessary, psychological support to the people shocked by the earthquake

Il terremoto del 6 aprile 2009 a L'Aquila: un punto di svolta nelle strategie educative per la riduzione del rischio sismico

Il lavoro mette a confronto i percorsi educativi per la riduzione dei rischio sismico realizzati nell’ambito del Progetto EDURISK (www.edurisk.it) prima e dopo il terremoto dell’Aquila del 6 aprile 2009. Per far fronte ai nuovi bisogni emotivi e cognitivi di insegnanti e studenti - emersi dopo l’evento sismico del 6 Aprile 2009 - si è reso necessario modificare la metodologia ed i contenuti del Progetto, sviluppando nuovi programmi didattici specifici per la fase post-terremoto. Lo studio presenta inoltre i risultati preliminari di un'indagine sulla percezione del rischio condotta, dopo il terremoto del 6 aprile 2009, su un campione di circa 500 insegnanti afferenti a 12 scuole di ogni ordine e grado dislocate in 4 zone dell’Abruzzo colpite dall’evento sismico. Il disegno di ricerca combina qualità di vita, psicometria e approccio teorico e culturale. I soggetti sono stati valutati utilizzando: la versione breve del World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment (WHOQOL-Bref), il questionario post-Ante Terremoto (F. La Longa e M. Crescimbene) per confrontare alcuni aspetti della vita quotidiana e delle opinioni prima e dopo il terremoto e il questionario di ingresso e uscita del Progetto EDURISK, somministrati all'inizio e alla fine del progetto. I dati sulla percezione del rischio sismico fornisco elementi di conoscenza delle realtà locali, fondamentali per la costruzione di percorsi educativi capaci di sviluppare, nella popolazione, la conoscenza e consapevolezza dei rischi del proprio territorio e contemporaneamente di favorire l’assunzione di comportamenti efficaci per la riduzione del rischio sismico

L'Aquila, earthquake of 6 April 2009: a turning point in the educational strategies for seismic risk reduction.

This work compares the experience of the EDURISK Project (www.edurisk.it), educational programs on risk reduction, achieved before and after the L’Aquila (Abruzzo, Italy) earthquake of April 6, 2009. The main elements of the educational process proposed in "peacetime" are critically analyzed and compared with the experience of the emergency (April-September 2009). On this basis, new educational programs have been developed to answer to the new cognitive and emotional needs of schools and people in the post-earthquake. The study also presents preliminary results of a survey on perception of risk conducted after 2009 April 6th earthquake in 4 affected areas in Abruzzo (Italy) on a sample of about 500 teachers (12 schools of all types and levels). The research design combines a quality life, psychometric, and cultural theoretic approach. The subjects were assessed using: the brief version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment (WHOQOL-Bref); a Post-Ante Earthquake Questionnaire (F. La Longa and M. Crescimbene), to compare some aspects of daily life and opinions before and after the earthquake; Input and Output EDURISK Project Questionnaire, given at the beginning and at the end of the Project. Data on risk perception and awareness is considered to be fundamental to determine the behavior towards risks and decision making, in order to develop effective information and risk educational programs

Emergenza e informazione

Le esperienze di informazione in emergenza durante le sequenze sismiche in Abruzzo e nel Lazio del 200