Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 5
Secrets
C. Nostro, G. Cultrera, P. Burrato, A. Tertulliani, P. Macrì, A. Winkler,
C. Castellano, P. Casale, F. Di Felice, F. Doumaz, A. Piscini, P. Scarlato,
M. Vallocchia, A. Marsili, L. Badiali, A. Bono, S. Stramondo, L. Alfonsi,
E. Baroux, M. G. Ciaccio, and A. Frepoli
INTRODUCTION
The Educational & Outreach Group (E&O Group) of the National Institute of
Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) designed a portable museum to bring on the
road educational activities focused on seismology, seismic hazard, and Earth science.
This project was developed for the first edition of the Science Festival organized in
Genoa, Italy, in 2003.
The museum has been mainly focused to school students of all ages and explains
the main topics of geophysics through posters, movie, and slide presentations, and
exciting interactive experiments. This new INGV museum has been remarkably suc-
cessful, being visited by more than 8,000 children and adults during the 10 days of the
Science Festival. It is now installed at the INGV headquarters in Rome and represents
the main attraction during the visits of the schools all year round.
Italy is a land prone to high seismic and volcanic hazards. About 60% of the coun-
try is classifi ed as seismic on current hazard maps and has suffered more than 200
damaging earthquakes in the last century. Large cities such as Naples and Catania are
located near the two major active volcanoes of Europe, Mt. Vesuvius and Mt. Etna,
respectively. Italy is also the land where, historically, the fi rst scientifi c observations
and studies on seismic events and volcanic eruptions were made (e.g., De Dolomieu,
1785; Mallet, 1862; Plinius Caecilius Secundus, 1968 fi rst century AD), and where
many words now used in the scientifi c language were invented. Nevertheless, in spite
of this long-lived cultural heritage, subjects such as seismology and volcanology are
neglected in today schoolbooks and school programs. For this reason many school-
teachers feel the need to request visits to academic and scientifi c institutions with their
class, for geophysical talks and exhibitions. They also need to gather up-dated educa-
tional material to upgrade school programs.
The INGV is currently the largest European scientifi c institution dealing with re-
search and real-time surveillance, early warning and forecast activities in geophysics
and volcanology. Five years ago, the E&O Group was created in the INGV headquar-
ters of Rome to promote, develop, and disseminate Earth science programs and geo-
physical knowledge. Every year more than 4,000 students from primary, secondary,
and high schools visit the INGV center in Rome during more than 65 open days, and
