Implementation of ‘GeoChem Volcanic Eruption’ (SOI-IT-110)
My name is Angela Colli, I am the president of Pavia section of the Italian National Association of Science Teachers (ANISN). I decided to implement the learning scenario “GeoChem Volcanic Eruption” with the collaboration of my colleagues, Paola Cazzani and Vera Valla, Science and Chemistry teachers at Istituto A. Bassi, a technical school in Lodi (Italy). We chose this learning scenario because it is multidisciplinary and engages students in a practical activity. We experimented the scenario with students aged between 15-16 years old, attending the first year of high school.
All about volcanoes
The activity started with a short theoretical lesson on volcanoes. Then the students had to work in small groups to produce a slide about one of the volcanic rocks available in our school collection, using the Europeana resources. They were required to use images, short texts and connect each rock to a different volcanic phenomenon, highlighting the use of the rocks as construction materials. Moreover, they designed a volcano model using the resource suggested in the learning scenario.
Focus on Italian volcanoes
Finally, we focused our attention on two Italian volcanoes: Vesuvius and Etna. We chose these volcanoes because they are representatives of two different types of volcanic eruptions and produce different lithology, very common in buildings of their area. The students, in groups, had to search Europeana for photos of volcanic rocks, volcano landscape and buildings to emphasise the relationship between them.
As the final product, the students produced a brochure to invite tourists to visit the two cities close to Vesuvio and Etna, Naples and Catania. The students were strongly engaged in the activity, this was clear also from the assessment that was positive from all of them.
Did you find this story of implementation interesting? Why don’t you read about the related learning scenario?
GeoChem Volcanic Eruption by Josip Jukić, Lana Šarić
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The featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana Collections and belongs to the public domain.