Alessandra Magagna

A Selection of Geological Tours for Promoting the Italian Geological Heritage in the Secondary Schools

Twenty Italian geological tours have been selected and studied for creating a didactic multimedia product devoted to secondary schools. The aim is to enhance the knowledge of the Italian geological heritage, starting from teachers and students, through the proposal of virtual geological tours. Particular attention has been given both to the relevance of Earth Sciences in everyday life and to the multidisciplinary topics proposed, having care of such aspects as the use of the land and the prevention of natural resources from degradation. An emotional approach has been applied because emotions are essential to stimulate curiosity and to build affection towards a territory, for raising the awareness of the value of the geological heritage. The project required collaboration among researchers, professionals, associations, and institutions involved in studying, protecting, and promoting the Italian geological heritage. Moreover, a further collaboration with teachers and students is foreseen, in order to test the effectiveness of the product in the teaching/learning process. The feedback collected will be useful for realizing a new multimedia product on the geosites of the Piemonte Region, as an output of the multidisciplinary PROactive management of GEOlogical heritage in the Piemonte region (PROGEO-Piemonte) research project.

GeoMedia-web: Multimedia and Networks for Dissemination of Knowledge on Geoheritage and Natural Risk

Geological knowledge is fundamental for the assessment and mitigation of natural risks, as well as for the successful exploration and management of georesources. The GeoMedia-web project aims to improve people awareness of geological issues by establishing a network of researchers, teachers, and scientific institutions sharing innovative multimedia solutions for the dissemination of Earth Science contents, focusing on natural hazards and geological heritage. Through the enhancement of awareness of geodiversity, we pursue to highlight evidences of past environmental changes and evolutionary processes, and also to make available information needed to accurately foresee future environmental changes, related risks and for providing adequate adaptation plans and/or prevention measures. The concept inspiring the GeoMedia-web project is based on principles of geoconservation and virtual reality applications. By means of collaborative sharing and creation of dissemination products, we want to fill the gap existing in Italy between these theoretical frameworks and their effective application in geodiversity action plans, and in the proactive management of natural risks.

Natural hazards and geological heritage in Earth science education projects

Abstract To the non-specialist, the concept of geological natural hazard usually refers to natural processes affecting the geosphere that produce far-reaching and intense effects, involving significant transfers of matter and energy, in a relatively short time when compared to the human timescale. Usually, these processes are also associated with abrupt and destructive effects involving human activities and lives. From the geoscientific point of view, slower and more gradual processes, which produce small scale effects, can also pose a hazard, for example when the process results in the loss of scientific information or in the destruction of evidence of past events that cannot be reproduced, such as those related to the history of life, or when spectacular examples of particular aesthetic value are destroyed. Only widespread education and good quality communication, both rigorous and effective, can increase peoples awareness and sensitivity to the need for protection of the geological heritage and for adopting geoethic attitudes. This paper presents some case studies in the Piedmont region (NW Italy) that involved students of primary and secondary schools in an active and participatory way and that represented a training opportunity for their teachers.

Multimedia and Virtual Reality for Imaging the Climate and Environment Changes Through Earth History: Examples from the Piemonte (NW Italy) Geoheritage (PROGEO-Piemonte Project)

The dissemination of the knowledge of critical geological issues, such as past environmental and climate change and their correct placement in the geological time scale, is essential to rise the awareness of the huge potential impact of the Earth Sciences on the current and future generations. We selected two examples (the Marguareis and the Langhe and Monferrato areas) to disseminate these topics to a broad audience. Virtual tours, hosted on the PROGEO-Piemonte project website (www.progeopiemonte.it), have been developed with special care to educational purposes and made suitable for mobile devices. These allow us to overcome theoretical problems related to the complexity of geological items (spatial and evolutionary complexity, deep time dimension), with plain language explanations, detailed pictures and dynamic 3D models. The virtual visit overcomes practical difficulties, such as restricted access to high mountain or dangerous areas, and improves the access to detailed geological information at different scales, not readily available in the outcropping rocks. Dynamic or static information, stored on the website, are available on Google Earth or Google Maps in the field (mobile navigation) or at home (PC-based navigation). The virtual tours thus become an alternative to the visit on site, or a tool for deepening knowledge before or after the visit. This is especially helpful for schools, because virtual tours could be used in classroom with many different goals. The virtual tours, once accessed on-line by many visitors, will in turn push public administrators to realize geotouristic facilities on site and fund educational projects on these important issues.