A multimedia product to disseminate the geological knowledge of the Piemonte region (PROGEO-Piemonte Project)

A multimedia product devoted to Secondary Schools has been developed, proposing geological tours in Italy. It is the results of the collaboration among researchers, teachers, professionals and Institutions involved in studying or preserving geosites. The aim is to stimulate students and teachers to explore some Earth Science topics through the proposal of real and virtual geological tours, in order to enhance the awareness of the Italian geoheritage and the inclination to geological field trips. The design of the multimedia product posed a lot of attention to the visual aspect, using many pictures and videos accompanied with short captions. A careful selection of images was made to bring out the fascinating aspects of Earth Sciences, as well as their relevance in everyday life. Both the selection of the images and the editing of the texts took into account the conceptual obstacles in a teaching/learning process of Earth Sciences. A test was set up for different users, in order to verify the effectiveness of the multimedia product. The results will clarify if the fascinating aspect, combined with an editing awareness of the “hidden” threats to Earth Science education, could affect the learning process, by stimulating curiosity. The new multimedia product is ready for applications in the multidisciplinary project PROGEOPiemonte (PROactive management of GEOlogical heritage in the Piemonte region), including both the use in the field trips, thanks to tablet, smartphone or palm-PC with GPS devices and the web dissemination.