Implementation of ‘Using Arts to Reconstruct a Volcanic Eruption’ (SOI-GR-115)

Title: Using Arts to reconstruct a volcanic eruption – implementation

Topic: Volcanoes – Earthquakes

Author: Angeliki Kougiourouki

The learning scenario implemented

What is a volcanic eruption and how is it produced? What are the lithosphere plates and how important is their Convergence or Deviation? How can we protect ourselves during an Earthquake? This Story of Implementation, based on the Learning Scenario entitled ‘Using Arts to reconstruct a volcanic eruption’ gives us an example of teaching Geography through Europeana digital collections.

The implementation context

The Story of Implementation was organized around the Learning Scenario ‘Using Arts to reconstruct a volcanic eruption.’ During the implementation, there were some changes in the initial LS due to the use of national volcanoes and earthquakes which happened in Greece throughout the ages. But the main idea was respected as well as some of the activities that Teresita Gravina had planned. The specific LS was selected due to the topic Volcanoes-Earthquakes, during the Geography lesson, to help students be familiar with natural phenomena. The students who worked on the implementation of this LS were at the age of 11-12, in 6th grade, and had previous experience in the use of digital cultural heritage as it was their second lesson based on the use of Europeana resources.

The narrative

The starting point of the implementation for the students of the 6th grade in 1^st Experimental Primary school in Alexandroupolis, Greece was some brainstorming about the well-known volcanoes that exist in Greece and all over the world. The students mentioned Etna, Santorini’s volcano and Vesuvius one. They were encouraged to compare the gulf in Napoli as well as the gulf in Santorini island and they concluded that they were quite similar as if ‘something had eaten a part of it.’

The students were very curious to learn about eruption activities in these volcanoεs and questions like: When was the last time that Vesuvius, Etna or Santorini’s volcano were active? What causes the volcanoes eruptions? were at the top of their interest.

The main title: Volcanoes-Earthquakes in the Geography book unit gave the chance to watch a simulation from a volcano eruption while a video from the recent earthquake in Turkey encouraged the students’ discussion on this important topic.

We then visited Europeana and, in particular, we did research using the words: eruption, volcano, Vesuvius, erupting volcano.

The students made comments on what they saw in the paintings as well as in the photos of volcanic rocks.

They were also invited to watch carefully a map about lithosphere plates around the world and a world map showing the distribution of volcanoes and earthquakes.

The video about volcano monitoring that Teresita Gravina suggested in her LS helped the teacher to introduce how scientists monitor volcano activities nowadays. We proceeded to learn about Earth’s interior, Lithosphere plates, their Convergence and Deviation. Created cracks offered the chance to learn more about the volcano arc in Greece as well as around the world.

The students became very excited when we visited the National Institute of Geodynamics (National Observatory of Athens) where they had the chance to watch in real-time the Earthquake activity in Greece.

Learning Outcomes

Europeana photos about volcanoes and eruption as well as the students’ curiosity encouraged them to work collaboratively in the computer lab and start creating presentations about the volcanoes mentioned above as well as timelines (Etna, Vesuvius, Santorini). They also tried to give some useful instructions on what to do during earthquakes.

They even tested their knowledge on the topic playing the suggested form the school book online quiz.

Teaching outcomes

Concluding, the implementation of this LS encouraged the students to learn about Volcanic eruptions and Earthquakes while visiting Europeana and watching related to natural phenomena simulations. Through inquiry and collaborative learning, they communicated in their groups to create presentations and timelines (using timetoast web2.0 tool) for three well-known volcanoes. They were even required to suggest useful advice in case of an Earthquake using postermywall as a template. Last but not least, the students felt proud of answering questions in an online quiz testing their knowledge of what they had learned about volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

Helping students with instructions on how to search the Europeana platform using the given keywords, how to study about natural phenomena like Earthquakes and eruptions in a foreign language and how to use new web tools (such as timetoast to create a timeline) was one of my priorities.

Activities like reading and watching simulations and videos about volcanoes, eruptions and earthquakes, both in native and in the English language, were more time-consuming than it had been imagined beforehand; the students needed more time in order to go through the resources, translate them into their native language and prepare their presentations or outcomes; more time was also needed to create the timelines. So, it would be good to bear that in mind and dedicate more time, should anyone want to implement this SOI.

Did you find this story of implementation interesting? Why don’t you read about the related learning scenario?

Using Arts to reconstruct a volcanic eruption created by Teresita Gravina

Did you find this story of implementation interesting? You might also like:

• Four Dimensions in Physics and Arts implemented by Natasa Tram
• The Life and Work of Charles Darwin implemented by Busuttil Mark
• The Brain Challenges implemented by Emine Ertas

The featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana Collections and belongs to the public domain.