{"id":525,"date":"2019-12-18T13:38:20","date_gmt":"2019-12-18T12:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cimafoundation.org\/2019\/12\/23\/meteorology-at-school\/"},"modified":"2022-09-29T08:18:37","modified_gmt":"2022-09-29T08:18:37","slug":"meteorology-at-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cimafoundation.org\/en\/news\/meteorology-at-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Meteorology at school"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

During the educational meetings within PON, at the Istituto Comprensivo di Serra Ricco e Sant’Olcese, students could not only know about but also apply on their territory the basic knowledge of meteorology and hydrology<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

How can we bring children closer to science and science closer to children? One way is to take science\u2014and its instruments, methodologies and fields of application\u2014with us into everyday life. The educational meetings of CIMA Research Foundation with the students of the Istituto Comprensivo di Serra Ricc\u00f2 e Sant’Olcese (Liguria, Italy) are based on this strategy. The meetings have taken place within the National Operative Programme<\/a> (PON) of the Italian Minister of Education, University and Research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only in the classroom<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In the classroom and with excursions outside, from October to December 2019 Antonio Parodi, head of the Meteorology and Climate Department<\/a> met with students to talk about the different types of clouds, how they are formed and their characteristics, the mechanisms underlying the storms, and which tools we have to forecast them. For example, gathering the observations coming from the students it has been possible to describe an occurring storm and to forecast its evolution<\/strong> during time by crossing the information with the data of myDewetra<\/a> system, a tool developed by CIMA Research Foundation and used by the Italian Civil Protection Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, to understand how storms can cause floods, hydrological issues were introduced. This was done by teaching the children to recognize the territory where they live<\/strong> and to read it through the lens of research. Where are the rivers? How are the bridges made? What kind of land is present, and how will it react to rain?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Exploring the territory<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In this way, the meetings have allowed children to go beyond the simple lesson, helping the students understand the applications of meteorology and hydrology<\/strong>, civil protection issues, and disaster risk reduction strategies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To learn playing with the sand<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Istituto Comprensivo di Serra Ricc\u00f2 e Sant’Olcese, in collaboration with some researchers of CIMA Research Foundation, developed an augmented reality sand box<\/a> as another tool for the educational meeting. In the sand box, rains can be simulated and the topography of the territory modeled<\/strong> simply by manipulating the sand, giving the data back to a computer in form of graphic rendering and bidimensional maps. Developed by US institutes and research centers, the sand box was physically assembled by our researchers, technicians and school operators. The hands for inducing the rain, the streambeds enlarged or restricted, the plans and mountains constructed in the sand have been a way to play.\u00a0 At the same time, they have allowed children to discover the issues of the hydro-geological risk, from the modeling of the Ligurian Polcevera River and its tributaries to the recent extreme events in the region (2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n