Keywords

Introduction

The public understanding of science has a strong impact on the social debate upon natural hazards, environment, resources and sustainability. However although Eurobarometer 2011 data reveals that 75% of EU citizens are positive about science, since 2005 the share of Europeans experiencing trust in science has declined from 78 to 66%. The largest decline in trust has taken place in Germany, Italy and Poland.

The improvement of science understanding has on one end supported citizens towards independent opinions and participation to crucial decisions; on the other end it seems to build skepticism towards the institutional settings where knowledge generation takes place. Due to the complexity, and yet the uncertainty, of the nowadays process of building up knowledge in science, new discoveries and claims can be contested, leave ample room for different interpretations, and implant suspicion in non-experts.

Good communication is certainly a necessary condition for improving trustworthiness, but engagement of citizens in the process of building, spreading and responsible use of science is thought to have a high potential for success (European Commission 2013).

Public engagement with science strengthens citizenship skills and empowerment; it increases awareness of the cultural relevance of science, and recognition of the importance of multiple perspectives and domains of knowledge to scientific endeavors (Annual Report AAAS 2015).

In this frame a participatory approach to Natural Hazard education has a high value. Here we describe two cases study that focuses on student engagement in hydrogeologic risk reduction. We start from local memory of catastrophic events that occur in the Italian region involved in our program, which is tested in Liguria. La Spezia and Genova Provinces has been repeatedly affected by severely damaging floods throughout its history. The intervals between floods are too often very short and people are afraid when heavy rain strikes.

Land, Hazard and Risk

Mountains and hills correspond to the 77% of Italian land, most of which has steep slopes or clay-based composition (Fig. 1). Recent mapping has shown for the northern part of the country and in Emilia, Liguria and Tuscany regions a high level of hazard for flood and landslides. After World War II Italy underwent heavy urbanization without taking into account the areas with high level of hydrogeologic hazards. Moreover population moved from mountains to cities and abandoned land.

Fig. 1
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Land distribution in Italy

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Terraces, traditionally sustained by dry stonewalls, occupy about thirty percent of the territory of Liguria. If constantly maintained, they effectively contribute to slow down the natural slope erosion. When no longer managed, terraces may increase geomorphological risk along the slopes and, consequently, at the bottom of the valley (Brandolini et al. 2012).

Bad weather such as flash rain worsen the background hazard causing severe damages and devastation across Italy and weight over the economy of a country that has to faces a large variety of disasters. Italy faces emergency but efforts on prevention are not enough to deal with the problem. Emergency often announced with “state of alert”, and results in schools closure to try minimize the number of people on the roads during heavy rain. In addition to damage to infrastructure and housing, bad weather also affects agriculture. According to Coldiretti (Italy’s largest agricultural association) heavy rain, overflown rivers and landslides will cost millions of euros to the agricultural sector due to land and crop damage. Farmland overflown with water, vegetables production and plants cultivation located near rivers registered the worst images.

The terraced landscape is very common in the Ligurian region, covering about of the 30% of the territory. Agricultural terraces are sustained by dry stonewalls and reduce the slow down the natural slope erosion, but if no regularly maintained, can worst the risk of landslides and “detritus flow”.

Since 1970 recurring floods affect Genoa where the Bisagno Stream catchment flows across the eastern part of city center. The most recent and tragic was in October 2014 (Faccini et al. 2016).

The 5 Terre peculiarity of little towns cling to sheer hills along a narrow, rugged strip of land between the Maritime Alps, the Apennine Mountains and the Ligurian Sea is results into a heavy geo-hydrological risk. The fragile land conditions turn into instability during unusual meteorological conditions that causes heavy flooding. This happened in October 2011 when the river rushed violently down dislocating and destroying several towns, redefining the natural architecture of the affected the Vara and Magra Valleys near La Spezia (Piangiamore et al. 2015) (Figs. 2 and 3).

Fig. 2
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Landslides and floods hazard map (Trigila et al. 2015)

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Fig. 3
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Inhabitants exposed to medium floods hazard (D.Lgs. 49/2010)

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Materials and Methods

Floods and landslides may strongly affect lives of many people. Emotional-learning activities can activate a life long learning process developing skills that might end up being fundamental for the own safety (Piangiamore et al. 2012).

To engage students into an active learning path and a flipped-up learning strategy we have to listen them and exchange ideas and experiences.

More than lack of knowledge is a question of understanding their needs and interests.

In approaching risk communication and learning, we test different ways and methods from 2004 to nowadays. Here we describe two cases study we develop in the last four years in which students and experts have collaborated in preparing (1) a participated exhibition on the 2011 flood that severely hit the land of La Spezia and surrounding, and (2) a flipped-up learning tool.

The participated exhibition is Piovono Idee! (Cloudy with a Chance of ideas!) and it is the result of experts’ interaction directly in school, focus groups and hands on activities. Students involved had experience the disaster and could put their emotion into their products. Exhibits of the interactive path tell us their own history.

Primary and secondary schools in areas strongly affected by the flood of the 25th October 2011—Borghetto Vara, Brugnato, Monterosso, Vernazza, Riomaggiore, Pignone, Riccò del Golfo, Aulla and Ragnaia (Aulla)—and secondary schools from the city of La Spezia were directly involved in the participatory action. Planning, creation and exhibition were the three main phases of the action to improve their specific scientific knowledge with hands-on activities, while exploring feelings and emotions triggered by the experience of a flood. The learn-by playing approach is also used to instil appropriate behaviours and the awareness that every actions we take derives from a choice: we can chose whether or not be respectful towards nature. Even little actions can turn into negative or positive consequences as it is sudden evident in Piovono idee!. Indeed the learning path starts with the question: ‘Is nature scary?’ shows a colored and smiling Nature full of gifts, which can became angry simply poking on it. The discovery of hydrogeological risk continues focusing on the importance to respect territory and on the correct land use with different totems, exhibits, experiments, scientific games. It emotionally involves the participants to favor reflective learning (Piangiamore et al. 2014, 2015). The latest activities are two role games to enforce eco-friendly behaviors for hydrological risk mitigation.

A few years later, Piovono idee! was updated and the exhibition got fully portable since 2015 and ready to travel the schools of the country to involve as many citizens as possible. The second edition of Piovono idee! (Fig. 4) is also an example of peer-education activity as students of the High School of La Spezia and of the Secondary school of Lerici, that were not directly and emotionally involved in the disaster, have played the role of the guides for general public (Bernhardsdóttir et al. 2012; Piangiamore et al. 2016).

Fig. 4
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The second edition of Piovono idee! with peer-education activity. Students of the high school and of the secondary school are the guides of the learning path. Hands-on activities are completely interactive and made of simple materials (mainly cardboard) to improve scientific knowledge while exploring emotions triggered by the experience of a flood

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The flipped-up learning tool is the EAS Floods: what to do?, an application of the Episodes of Situated Learning (EAS) method to natural hazard education (Rivoltella 2014; Piangiamore et al. 2015). The EAS method acts on problem solving abilities that the classroom shared among peer and with the mentor and ends with a reflective learning approach where concepts are reworked and restructured. We applied this interactive approach to natural hazards at school to stimulate best practice for the good of all. Researchers and teachers worked side by side designed Floods: what to do? on hydrogeological hazard active learning to promote knowledge and safety.

This is a way for education of the new generations intriguing students to arouse their interest towards environmental problems, generally underestimated by formal education (Muttarak and Lutz 2014). Floods: what to do? asks students to prepare a tool capable of effective communication to their peers and to the public, involving them in three phase: (1) the preparation phase based on problem-solving; (2) the activity phase based on learning by doing; and (3) the debriefing phase based on reflective learning.

In (1) the teacher gives inputs to make them curious on hydrogeological matter using Internet and web browsing. Students watch short-shoots of videos, presentations or a text inputs surfing on selected websites at home prior lesson.

In (2) the teacher’s conceptual framework on hydrogeological, geomorphological, water drainage risks and climate change. Then students do a cooperative work gathered in small groups by means of specific application to build comics (e.g., Comic Life, Comic Maker, Bistrips, Pixton Comics) freely available on the Internet. The results are comics to communicate the safe behaviors and the basics of self-protection in case of natural extraordinary events.

In (3) the teacher makes assessments, discusses misconception and define concepts. Students analyze their classmates’ products, discusses with them and reflects on crucial aspects of behaviors that can save lives discovering together the territory they live in.

Students are familiar with comics, their products are set in a familiar environment such as at home, at school, in a narrow road, in an open space, next to a river bank, in a woods, in the fields, etc. This is an amusing way to raise awareness on disaster reduction and risk education enforcing the ability to foster hazards before the occur of extreme events.

Results

The two case studies were useful to document educational tools and engagement initiatives to ensure effective dissemination and communication and raise public awareness and understanding in countries exposed to hydro and geomorphological hazard. Global promotion of understanding and reducing hydrogeological disaster risk is one of the ambitious mandate for the next 15 years at the 3rd United Nations World Conference in Japan. The principle of ‘risk-informed decision-making’ involve application of risk information at all levels (UNISDR 2005, 2015). We promote responsibility for enhancing international science and technology cooperation by engaging students and teachers on disaster risk reduction attitude for a resilient community.

Resilience is the capacity to withstand and recover quickly from extreme dissemination strategies to instill a culture of safety will exploit some new aspects for the promotion of best practice.

Italy bad weather emergency reveals the country’s lack of readiness for hydrogeological risk prevention plans. Flood and landslide risk education can contribute to advancing culture of living with natural hazards and to reduce landslide and flood disaster risk. The necessity to dialogue about this theme has to be a priority for the risk governance and management to establish an effective hydrogeological reduction. The experiences here designated has reached students and adults with excellent feedbacks, supported by questionnaires and press releases. These example of good cooperation incorporating many relevant stakeholders into a risk dialogue, enforcing the common aim to build a sustainable system of prevention for prepared future citizens able to respect natural environment and Nature.