EGU2020-7269
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-7269
EGU General Assembly 2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Magnetic to the Core - Communicating paleomagnetism with hands-on activities

Annique van der Boon1, Greig Paterson, Janine Kavanagh2, and Andy Biggin
Annique van der Boon et al.
  • 1University of Liverpool, Geomagnetism Laboratory, Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (avanderboon.work@gmail.com)
  • 2University of Liverpool, Volcanology Group, Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

With geoscience student numbers dwindling, there is a strong need for Earth scientists to enthuse a new generation of prospective students. We created several hands-on activities to introduce members of the general public of all ages to the fundamentals of, and current research in paleomagnetism. We developed these activities at different outreach events in the UK, such as a family science fair (at the Ness Gardens) and a holiday workshop (at the Victoria Gallery & Museum). In the first week of July, 2019, we contributed to the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition, a science exhibition in London with almost 14,000 visitors of the general public, including many school groups. Visitors came from all educational backgrounds. We had a stand that consisted of 4 hands-on experiments, and an informative backdrop. The four activities allowed visitors to explore the range of tasks that a paleomagnetist does, from the collection and measurement of samples to understanding the behaviour of the Earth’s magnetic field. Visitors could measure real lavas from Iceland on a custom-built magnetometer that was designed specifically for outreach, and determine the magnetic polarity of the samples. We also created an information booklet with ’10 things you might not know about Earth’s magnetic field’, which is openly available under a CC-license. To measure the impact of our stand on visitors’ knowledge of paleomagnetism, we designed a quiz. Our results show that especially for school kids, our stand had a significant impact on their knowledge of the Earth’s magnetic field. In this contribution we share lessons learned through designing the ‘Magnetic to the Core’ stand, hands-on activities and evaluations.

How to cite: van der Boon, A., Paterson, G., Kavanagh, J., and Biggin, A.: Magnetic to the Core - Communicating paleomagnetism with hands-on activities, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-7269, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-7269, 2020

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