PVL-Africa
Type of the project: IUGG Grants Program
Priority area: Geoscience education and outreach in developing countries
Project title: “Paper Volcanoes Lab: a way to engage early childhood and primary school children with Earth Science”
Objective
The pilot project will allow teachers and educators of children of pre-primary and primary education based in developing countries of Eastern Africa help familiarize with Earth Science through engaging object play Paper Volcanoes Laboratory (PVL) program.
The IUGG will help to support the priority area Geoscience education and outreach by fostering local young researchers and educators through a science community approach.
The project aims:
- to support the preschoolers and primary school age children who live in countries with volcanic activity to familiarize with the wonders and the associated risks of volcanoes by using an object play approach as developed in the Paper Volcanoes toolkit.
- to engage young children, researchers, teachers from developing countries, and senior researchers and academics from international institutions to foster collaborative work.
- to increase educators’ scientific content knowledge and pedagogical skills by providing a set of learning activities that are highly engaging and easy to perform through the Paper Volcanoes toolkit
- to test and evaluate the Paper Volcanoes tool kit in diverse contexts where the relationship between communities and volcanoes has cultural significance
- to continue to enrich content by linking it to cultural background of the children and focusing on identity and inclusion and sharing experience and knowledge in a holistic approach
- to prepare earth science educational materials based on the school curriculum in Kenya and see how it can be scaled up towards other countries in Africa and other developing nations.
Project P-I
Dr. Stefania Amici, researcher Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Rome, Italy stefania.amici@ingv.it
Project Co-PI Marek Tesar, Associate Professor & Associate Dean International, The University of Auckland, New Zealand
Project Participant(s)
Dr John Teria Ng’asike, Turkana University College, Kenya
Lead supporter: Roberto Sulpizio – IAVCEI Secretary-General
Where are we?
Phase 1: Research and Demo (2020-2021)
Phase 2: Teachers and Children trial (2022)
Phase 3: Engagement and dissemination (2023)
How to get involved:
Send an email to stefania.amici@ingv.it
Phase 1
Kick off project conducted in August 2020.
Due to the pandemic the project granted and extention and the activities have been re-scheduled:
- The project is presented at ICERI 2020 conference
- Monthly virtual meeting carried out to discuss progress
- Two copies of the Paper Volcanoes toolkit arrive at the University of Auckland
22 February 2021 First virtual Zoom Italy- New Zealand-Kenya
- 24 April 2021 second virtual zoom with Kenya
- The team is has dedicated the 2021 to the drafting of a methodological paper working at the metodological paper.
A poster will be presented at COV11 2022
Conceptual paper in progress
Students’ quote
“The results of the activity according to our observation and response from the teacher was brilliant “
Phase 2
Teachers' training and children engagement
Paper volcanoes laboratory preparatory pilot with the students of The University of Turkana
The pilot has been conducted on 6 April 2022 and involved 4 University teacher students. The teacher in charge presented the Paper Volcanoes laboratory to the students who studied and experimented the toolkit and took the process forward. A feedback questionnaire was given to the students
We got consistent message from all the students that there is high value in the toolkit. There was a consensus in linking the toolkit with Kenyan and African volcanoes and getting involved in the future project workshops
Phase 3
Engagement and dissemination
In September 2022 a more extended pilot consisting of four workshops involving stakeholders, teachers, and elders was run. The workshops were designed to enable teachers to learn, share ideas, connect with geoscience specialists and sociologists, and to find strategies to allow children to be active learners. Starting from a volcanic rock from Turkana we connected with traditional stories told by the elders while the hands-on experience of the PVLT helped them to learn different ways to communicate information about volcanoes to children. Alternative materials to be used by teachers in rural schools, where getting paper may be challenging, were explored as well. Foundations were set to create a Paper Volcanoes Laboratory Toolkit linked to local tradition, to create a new way to comprehend volcanoes and maintain unity with Turkana cultural identity and their views of science and the Kenyan curriculum
Communication
We are proud to announce that the project has been published within the IUGG E-Journal May 2023 accessible HERE
Pubblications
1. Paper Volcanoes lab: engaging young children with earth science in kenya. here what we have accomplished so far, S. Amici, A. Bertoli, J.T. Ng'asike, M. Tesar, R. Sulpizio, S. Eleman, P. Emase, INTED 2024 3-5 March 2024, Valencia; proceeding paper in printing.
2. Decolonizing western science education and knowledge in early childhood: Rethinking natural hazards and disasters framework through indigenous ‘ecology of knowledge’ in Kenya, A. Bertoli A., J.T. Ng ‘ asike, S. Amici, A. Madjar, M. Tesar.,Sage , journals
3. IAVCEI/IASPEI – Paper Volcanoes Lab: A Way to Engage Early Childhood and Primary School Children on Earth Science: Report, S. Amici and all the team, The IUGG Electronic Journal Volume 23 No. 5 (1 May 2023) https://iugg.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/IUGGej2305.pdf
4. Paper Volcanoes Lab. A Way To Engage Early Childhood And Primary School Children On Earth Science In Africa, S. Amici, M. Tesar, J. Teria Ng'asike. A. Bertoli, presentation, National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, ONT day, June 2022.
5. Paper Volcanoes Lab. A Way To Engage Early Childhood And Primary School Children On Earth Science In Africa, S. Amici, M. Tesar, J. Teria Ng'asike. A. Bertoli, e-poster COV 11 12-17 June 2022.
6. Paper Volcanoes Lab: Engaging Young Children with Earth Science, S. Amici, M. Tesar, 13th annual International Conference of Education, Research, and Innovation, ICERI2020, 9-11 November 2020, ISBN: 978-84-09-24232-0, ISSN: 2340-1095, doi: 10.21125/iceri.2020.1507 e-poster..
How to get involve:
Send an email to stefania.amici@ingv.it