Schools
I don't take risks also promotes projects and tools for the diffusion of civil protection culture for the new generations. In this section are collected all the initiatives aimed at the school world: these are paths and educational activities that students can follow with the support of teachers or appropriately trained civil protection volunteers.
The project was launched in 2017, in collaboration with the Civil Protection Directorates of the Regions and Autonomous Provinces and the Regional School Offices, with the aim of including the world of schools in the target audience of I don't take risks, where the culture of prevention has a fertile ground to root and become the heritage of both the individual and the community.
Thanks to the synergy between pedagogists, psychologists, scientists, educators and civil protection experts, an experiential program dedicated to elementary school students was developed. Children, supported by their teachers and trained civil protection volunteers, are actively involved in the process of learning about natural risks and actions that contribute to their reduction.
Classroom activities are conveyed through an educational kit that brings together theoretical insights and multi-risk workshops. The kit consists of ten activity sheets from which volunteers, together with the teacher, select the most appropriate ones for the age group and context and build an educational path divided into three meetings of 1-2 hours each.
On October 13, 2023, on the International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction, the comic strip " L'attimo decisivo" will be distributed in all secondary schools in Italy. The initiative was promoted by the Minister for Civil Protection and Sea Policies, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Merit, to raise students' awareness of civil protection issues through an unprecedented publishing project.
The story tells the stories of Samira, Carlo, Katja and Paolo, four boys aged 12 to 14 who suddenly find themselves facing the consequences of an earthquake, flood, tsunami and forest fire and ultimately having to make decisive choices to save themselves and others. The narrator of the events, but also the antagonist of the four boys, is "Equazione" - the Risk Equation, a powerful and apparently invincible enemy that can be thwarted only through the power of awareness and knowledge of good civil protection practices, a "power" at everyone's reach.
A browseable comic book and audio book is available on the website dedicated to L'Attimo decisivo to ensure that the content is fully accessible to students with disabilities too. QR codes inside the comic strip, located at specific points of the story, allow access to further video content related to the risks faced by the protagonists.
The products produced to support teachers in the classroom to support children in reading the comic also constitute an important part of the project. These consist of 6 video lectures lasting about 15 minutes each, where experts from the scientific and civil protection community explore the issues addressed.
Go to website attimodecisivo.iononrischio.it
The EDURISK project
EDURISK is a risk education project launched in 2002 by a team of scientists and researchers from different disciplinary areas (geology, seismology, earthquake engineering, historical seismology, volcanology, climatology, emergency psychology), with the contribution of educational design experts, children's book authors, artists, illustrators and cartoonists. The project is financed by the Civil Protection Department in collaboration with the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology.
In more than 20 years of activity, EDURISK has created and tested educational tools for schools (from kindergartens to 1st and 2nd grade secondary schools) and has promoted projects in many Italian regions, by training teachers, holding workshops in classrooms and organising communication events.
The EDURISK publishing series consists of about ten titles, with several reprint, and translations in the main European languages.
The travelling exhibition " Terremoti d'Italia" ("Earthquakes of Italy") is an initiative launched in 2007 by the Civil Protection Department to foster citizens, especially the youngest, to take an active role in risk prevention.
The exhibition focuses on providing participants with an experience that combines knowledge of the physical phenomenon, historical memory of past earthquakes and awareness of the behaviour to adopt to reduce the risk.
The visit is divided into several areas: it starts with knowledge of the physical phenomenon and the tools used to measure its force, then moves on to the history and seismic risk of our country, to address the themes of the vulnerability of cities and buildings, the precautions to adopt to improve the safety of home, and the behaviour to adopt before, during and after risk situations, then reaching the two seismic simulators, designed to reproduce different levels of associated energy. In the 'seismic room' installed on the simulators, visitors can safely experience a very realistic perception of the phenomenon, both as a sensory experience and in terms of the effects in their living and working environments (falling furniture and furnishings, breakage, etc.).
The I don't take risks communication campaign is an integral part of the exhibition: local volunteers meet visitors along the exhibition route to talk to them about the natural risks to which the area where they live is exposed. A specific itinerary has been organised for children and schools, which includes, after a test on the simulator, an explanation of what to do in the event of an earthquake. The arrival of the exhibition in a given location is preceded by discussions and agreements with the Regional School Offices, so the presence of students is always high.
Following the principle of Law no. 92/2019, which re-introduced the teaching of civic education in the school programmes, a basic text for teachers on civil protection issues has been developed. The volume was edited by the Civil Protection Department with the aim of providing an accessible and authoritative reference on institutional, scientific and socio-behavioural information on the different types of risk affecting the national territory. The text was published in July 2020 and is available for free download.