Abstract:

Although most of East Africa’s volcanoes are currently dormant they could erupt in the future, while 25% of Africa’s volcanoes had eruptions in the last 100 years. How to be prepared and response to natural hazards such as volcanoes need to be communicated to young children, learning settings and communities. The project here presented has been funded by the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) and supported by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI) within the priority area Geoscience Education and Outreach in Developing Countries. It aims to present the Paper Volcanoes toolkit and create a dialogue between science and the indigenous knowledge to communicate natural hazards to children considering their identity and context. The Paper Volcanoes Laboratory toolkit is an experience based activity enriched with pedagogical elements, created within the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) Educational Group, to help early childhood children to familiarize with natural hazards including volcanoes.

The project focuses on the Turkana rural setting in Kenya where the regional volcanism is known by geologists or indigenous people through their traditional stories as mountains of fire. Here we present the methodology used consisted of two pilots. A preparatory pilot was run on April 2022 and involved four University students and Turkana early childhood teachers. An extended pilot was run on September 2022 in Lodwar and consisted of four themed workshops involving stakeholders, teachers (40), and elders. The pilot enabled teachers to hear the stories about the Turkana mountains, experience the paper toolkit, to share ideas, to connect with geoscience specialists and sociologists.

Keywords:

Geoscience, volcanoes, preschool children, primary school, object play.