Learning to manage volcanic risk: the educational value of reality-based and active teaching in Middle School

This contribution describes an educational experience based on reality-based and active learning aimed at teaching volcanic risk management to third-year middle school students in the Campania region (Southern Italy), a territory exposed to significant volcanic hazards due to active volcanoes such as Mount Vesuvius and the Campi Flegrei caldera. The project, “Living in the Shadow of Volcanoes: Knowledge as Protection”, is grounded in the idea that risk education is most effective when learners are directly involved in meaningful, authentic tasks connected to their own environment.

Students are engaged as scientific communicators and are tasked with designing and developing a collaborative digital information space (Padlet) addressed to the school community and local citizens. The learning pathway is built around a real and socially relevant problem: how to inform citizens about volcanic hazards, risk scenarios, and appropriate behaviors in emergency situations. To address this challenge, students work collaboratively in four thematic groups focusing on (1) volcanic structures and types in Campania, (2) the concepts of hazard, vulnerability, and risk, (3) emergency and evacuation planning, and (4) individual preparedness and safe behaviors before, during, and after an eruption.

The final products include multimedia presentations, infographics, digital posters, simulated or real interviews with scientists (e.g., volcanologists), and a short informational podcast, all integrated into a publicly shareable Padlet designed for public dissemination.

This teaching approach promotes interdisciplinary learning and supports the development of scientific understanding, digital competence, communication skills, collaboration, and active citizenship. The experience highlights the educational value of reality-based tasks and digital tools in fostering risk awareness, encouraging preventive attitudes, and strengthening the connection between school learning, civic responsibility, and territorial safety.