Divulgazione delle Scienze Geologiche attraverso i geositi: l’esempio del progetto “Geoscuola” in Basilicata

GeoScuola is an educational pro- ject aiming at promoting Geoscience among students of first degree – sec- ondary school in the Basilicata region. The initiative, promoted by ExtraGEO, spin off of Basilicata Universitiy, in col- laboration with Shell E&P Italy, official sponsor, has been proposed since 2014 and reached the sixth edition. The project involved 20 schools and 2000 students up today. Teaching ac- tivities, generally carried out between march and may, are divided into 5 fron- tal lessons and 1 final field trip in the national and international geosites of Sasso di Castalda (PZ), Castelmezzano (PZ) or Rionero in Vulture (PZ). The teaching program encloses the main topics of Geoscience (origin of solar system, plate tectonics, rocks rec- ognition, volcanoes and earthquake, en- ergy overview and geological heritage) while classroom activities benefit from multimedia tools and advanced tech- nologies. During lectures, laboratory and interactive approaches are adopt- ed, with innovative teaching methods such as cooperative learning, flipped classroom, mind mapping and problem posing. In this paper we present the experi- ence of 6 editions of GeoScuola, ana- lyzing methodologies and feedback. We also demonstrate how the school can become a dynamic system, capable of evolving together with the territory and acting for protection, enhancement and promotion of geological heritage.