Geophysics on Stage: bringing Earth into scene
The Ingv Science Theatre experiences
Tiziana Lanza1, Massimo Crescimbene1, Federica La Longa1, Enrico Pizzicannella2, Giacomo Tortorici2, Luca Pizzino1, Alberto Frepoli1, Giuliana D’Addezio1
1) Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (Sede di Roma)
Via di Vigna Murata, 605 00143 Rome Italy
2) Ente Parco dei Castelli Romani
Via Cesare Battisti, 5
00040 Rocca di Papa Italy
pizzicannella@parcocastelliromani.it
ABSTRACT
Since September 2008, the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisca e Vulcanologia in Rome has started to experiment science theatre as an innovative tool to promote seismic risk awareness and earth education. Up to now two projects have been implemented within the Laboratorio di Didattica e Divulgazione Scientifica. The first one, more traditional, involving pupils of the primary school was devoted to promote seismic risk and earthquake education among children aged 6-10. The Sicilian “Colapesce” tale was rewritten and readapted to commemorate the 100 years from 1908 Messina Earthquake, to be performed in a school theatre by pupils (II and IV classes Scuola Primaria Federico Di Donato, Rome). It was as well an experiment of science without frontiers for the presence of schoolmates from different countries (Asia, Africa, South America, East Europe and Italy). The second was a pilot-project developed in collaboration with Ente Parco dei Castelli Romani and concerning the possibility to establish in the future an Ecomuseum in one of the Lazio Region areas rich of natural landscapes and history. The students of two classrooms of the Mancinelli and Falconi Institute in Velletri (III Classical Lyceum and III Socio-Pedagogical Lyceum ), aged 16, chose an itinerary in the volcanic-origin area around the Nemi Lake to be developed in three items: the Roman Ships Museum; The lake itself; and the Diana Nemorensis Temple’s ruins. The final goal was interpreting the territory with the help of scenic actions. It was a sort of opened-air theatre where history, legends and their historical figures - mainly Caligula and the Goddess Diana - described the area from the different points of view: geological, historical, naturalistic and even gastronomic. Both the projects have been evaluated, but in the second case, one of the two classrooms, being a Socio-Pedagogical Lyceum, was involved in the evaluation process under the supervision of Ingv Didactic Lab. Results from both projects, and a comparison between the two will be shown.
Introduction
Science can be conveyed via narratives and this represents a reliable way to transmit scientific contents to people. An evaluation has been done in a school context with encouraging results (Negrete & Lartigue 2010). Also myths and legends are a type of narratives and have a structure familiar to most people. They are particularly precious for Earth education. Early human civilizations used myths to organize and convey information for transmitting the wisdom necessary to live in harmony with and survey in nature (Lanza & Negrete 2007). Today many geoscientists benefit of myths and legends for studying Earth and a discipline, called Geomythology, is devoted to this particular research field.
What happens if a piece of narrative is transformed into a script to be performed in a theatre? Will the acting reinforce the content of the narrative? Will the scientific content better conveyed in this way? Can this represent a more efficacious way to convey seismic risk by the help of dramatization, encouraging a better seismic preparedness? Can this help students to better appreciate the territory in which they live promoting a better understanding of the environment with the aim of preserving it? The Laboratorio di Didattica e Divulgazione Scientifica of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia in Rome did the experience in a primary school with children aged 6-10 and with students of Lyceum aged 16. In the first case the script was conceived within the Ingv Lab, while in the second case the students took care of writing the script and organizing the whole experience. Evaluation results about the two experiences suggest that it is better to involve the students in all the different steps that will bring to the final performance.
Once upon a time a fisherman…
An old tale in Messina alerts citizens that the area is at risk of strong earthquakes. The Colapesce myth date back in 1230, during the reign of King Ferdinand II, who is the historical figure of the Myth. The fisherman Colapesce instead is legendary. Its name is the result of the nickname “Cola”, the diminutive of the Italian name “Nicola” plus “pesce” meaning actually “fish”. Colapesce loved the sea. He was a devoted fisherman and also a special one since he was able to explore the deep sea understanding, at the same time, the danger of it. The story has been readapted several times during the years and is narrated also in the Italian writer Italo Calvino Favole Italiane.
King Ferdinando II summoned him since conquered by the fame of the fisherman. They said he was able to speak with the ocean nymphs, to swim with them reaching the unexplored realms of the deep sea. Enchanted by the braveness of the man and in search for a husband for his daughter, King Ferdinand II decided to submit the man to some trials to evaluate his skills. One of these consisting in plunging into the deep sea, during which Colapesce makes an unbelievable discover: three columns support Messina: one is broken; another one chipped and just one of the three is still uncorrupted. Alarmed for the weird situation, he decided not to emerge anymore to protect his town trying to repair the columns. We have already explored the possibility to use myth in a classroom. Instead of delegating myth to the impoverished status of superstition, science education can introduce these important stories into the classroom in order to help children realize that there are many facets to the representation of reality, each with an insight to contribute to human understanding. (Lanza & Negrete 2007)
From the myth to a primary school theatre
To commemorate the 100 years from the Messina earthquake recurring the 26 December 2008, the Myth of Colapesce was readapted for a theatrical script in a modern key. To involve pupils of different ages (from six to ten years old) we conceived the script with two level of narration. Beside the myth itself with its legendary characters, the script included a new modern story conceived in the contemporary society. Together with the king, the princess, the king guards and counselors, would act a group of young seismologists representing INGV scientists and a ballad singer. In the modern part of the script, the group of young seismologist (interpreted by the pupils of the IV class) thanks to the help of the little fairies (interpreted by the pupils of the II class) succeed to go back in time to meet the legendary characters of the Colapesce myth one week before the tragic Messina earthquake (occurred the 26 December 1908). Of course we referred to the a-temporality of the myth, without collocating it in a specific historical time.
We conveyed the scientific content in the second level of narration, the modern one. The young seismologist brought in front of the king a seismometer, an instrument to record earthquakes. The encounter between the past and the present produces a weird misunderstanding since the king believes the instrument is a bomb and orders the guards to put the seismologists in jail. Colapesce will rescue them. Brought once again in front of the king they should explain what a seismometer is and to what it can be useful for the earthquake they know it is imminent, since they come from the future!
Even if its fundamental structure remained unchanged, the script has been readapted several times with the help of the teachers to meet the need of the two classrooms. It was an idea of the teachers to bring the seismologists from one to five to constitute a group. Together with a director, they also chose the pupils suitable for the different roles. They also suggested two jesters rather than one and a handmaid, Saruzza, for Princess Dorotea, the King’s daughter. The number of characters grew to involve as pupils as possible. Some roles have been assigned even to handicapped with good results. The final performance took place during the XIX Week of Scientific Culture at the end of March 2009.
Open-air scenic actions performed by Lyceum students
The evaluation of the former experience suggested involving the students in all the steps bringing to the final performance. In this case, we wanted to involve students within a pilot project for proposing an Ecomuseum in one of the Lazio regions rich of natural landscapes and history: the Castelli Romani. An Ecomuseum is a museum without walls that focuses on the identity of a place; it is based on local participation and refers to a new idea of it that involves the whole cultural heritage in opposition to the focus on specific items and objects, performed by traditional museums.
One of the characteristics is the importance that the word “itinerary” assumes in this context. The visitors are invited to immerge themselves in the places they visit with all the senses, at the research of the genius loci. We proposed the students of the Mancinelli and Falconi Institute in Velletri (III Classical Lyceum) to choose between two itineraries in the Castelli Romani Park area. The one chosen gave us the possibility to illustrate them the volcanism of the area and its effect on the territory. The Lake of Nemi as well as the Alban Lake are volcanic lakes. The volcanism that is nowadays just a memory, since they are not in activity anymore, forged the territory around and at the same time gave origins to different myths and legends linked to fertility. It is not a case if there is near the Nemi Lake up on the hill surrounding it the ruins of a temple dedicated to Diana, the Goddess of fertility. We then subdivided the itinerary into three items. The first one was the Museum of the Roman Ships, devoted to the ships that Caligula the Emperor ordered to build. The ships were recovered in 1927 from the lake - where they were buried at the end of the Caligula Reign - during Mussolini government. During the Second World War they were burned and destroyed. Today the Museum dedicated to them shows an important aspect of Caligula, his will to power and to the magnificence of his Reign. The second item was the Nemi Lake itself with its entire flora and fauna and the effects of volcanism. And the final item was the Diana Temple’s ruins. Then, the students attended the lessons we gave at their school concerning the geophysics of the area, the history, the myths and legends, and the naturalistic aspects. It was up to them to organize the material in a creative way in order to put together scenic actions to be performed directly on the places of the itinerary. The final goal was to illustrate the territory to the public expected during the celebration of the European Day of Parks, the 24 of May.
Evaluation and results
A complete evaluation of the first experience has been done by some members of the Laboratorio di Didattica e Divulgazione Scientifica (La Longa & Crescimbene 2009). The evaluation process aimed at verifying if the project promoted the seismic risk knowledge; and encouraged the acquisition of individual and social behavior for risk preparedness. The evaluation tools consisted in A Duss Fairy-Tale test adopted for the 6/7 years schoolmates; a semi-structured questionnaire on the Colapesce story (for the 9/10 years schoolmates); an open form for the teachers’ evaluation of the whole experience. Negative scores have been obtained concerning the group collaboration while we have noted that even if the 93 per cent student have a good seismic knowledge, only the 7 per cent seems to have acquired a seismic risk awareness. The teachers’ evaluation gave a positive feedback about the whole experience as an efficacious way to transmit scientific content, but suggested to involve more the children in the script writing an in the setting. The IV primary students have reinforced their knowledge about earthquakes thanks to the experience of dramatization (Lanza et al. 2009).
In the second case, the Lab asked the Socio-Pedagogical Lyceum (III) to perform the evaluation. The Lab has acquired the data and an elaboration is still in course. But we can already suggest some general conclusion. Comparing the two experiences it is evident that while in the case of the primary school the involvement of the schoolmates was complete, all the children wanted to participate creating space problems for the number of children on the stage, in the second case only a small group of students of the III Classical Lyceum charged to produce the performance participated actively. More involved were the students of the III Socio-Pedagogical Lyceum, with the task of performing the evaluation. It is difficult to understand the reason of the scarce enthusiasm even if the small group of students involved were positive and clever in writing the script and in performing it. Some reasons are for sure contingent. Only two of the six teachers contacted at the beginning decided to take care of the project, consequently the hours dedicated to it were scarce. Especially for the dramatization the time was really short while more hours were dedicated to the content transfer from our part to the students. The evaluation took place in three fundamental steps: an opening questionnaire submitted to a checking group, a III Classical Lyceum not participating in the project; detecting indicators through a direct and guided observation during the final performance; an ending and conclusive questionnaire aiming at detecting the changes occurred in the students participating in the project. It is evident by comparing the last results with the opening test of the checking group that the project contributed to increase the participants’ knowledge of the area in any sense: geologically, historically, and culturally. Of great interests were also the several indicators taken into account by the evaluators, going from the paralinguistic signals to the mimic during the performance. One particular indicator, interesting for our point of view, was the public feedback. The attention of the people assisting to the performance was very high.
Conclusion
It is of great importance when we decide to use theatre as a science education tool to involve as many teachers as possible. The ideal would be to have at our disposal teachers of several disciplines and several hours to be dedicated not only to the content transfer but also to the dramatization. Our experience suggest that it is better to involve the students in all the different phases that will bring to the performance, even, as it has been for the second experience, in the evaluation process. If it is true that a knowledge transfer is guaranteed, the same cannot be said for the development of a seismic risk awareness that requires more commitment. The same is for the students’ approval, especially for those of the secondary school. Innovative way to gain students enthusiasm should be thought even if our experience suggest that dramatization could be a privileged way to convey Earth education, seismic risk and the love for the environment.
References
Negrete A. Lartigue C (2010) The science of telling stories: Evaluating science communication via narratives (RIRC method) Journal Media and Communication Studies Vol 2(4), pp.98-110
Lanza T. Negrete A. (2007) From myth to Earth education and science communication in Piccardi, L. and Masse W.B. (eds) Myth and Geology, GSL, London, Special Publication, 273, 61-63
La Longa F. Crescimbene M. (2010) L’efficacia formativa del teatro scientifico: un’esperienza nella scuola primaria INGV Internal Report retrieved from: http://www.earth-prints.org/bitstream/2122/5868/1/relazione-Valutazione_Colapesce.pdf
Lanza T. D’Addezio G. La Longa F. Crescimbene M. Ciaccio M. Marsili A. (2009) Once Upon a time a fisherman: Science theatre at INGV Oral presentation Geoitalia 2009 retrieved from: http://www.earth-prints.org/handle/2122/5862
This article is a version of a paper presented at the XI PCST Conference 6-10 New Delhi – India.