A board game meets an App… this is GeoRisk!

Giovanna Lucia Piangiamore¹, Sabina Maraffi² & Francesco Maria Sacerdoti^3
1Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) Sezione Roma 2 - Sede di Lerici, Italy.
²MIUR - Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione, Rome, Italy.
³Università degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II", Naples, Italy.
Corresponding author e-mail: giovanna.piangiamore@ingv.it

GeoRisk is a game-learning experiment to raise awareness on disaster reduction enforcing the ability to foster hazards before the occurrence of extreme events. It’s an amusing way for the last two years of Primary School and the first year of the Middle School classes. The research program of risk education interactive learning involves a network of schools also in special scientific venues in a Computer Supported Collaborative Learning Education experience, also testing the efficacy of the Risk Detective (Seismic and Hydrogeological Risk) table game by the Saving Yourself APP (Volcanic, Seismic and Hydrogeological Emergencies). The resulting educational tool ensures effective dissemination on natural hazard understanding, to instill a culture of safety promoting best practice. The highly innovative idea is to use an App as an authentic assessment tool. The table game stimulates and facilitates learning in a simulated situation, the App promotes authentic assessment, providing immediate feedback, which is essential for an excellent outcome (Trinchero, 2015; Bursztyn et al., 2016; Rugelj, 2016) Therefore, the engaging gaming experiences also accompanies innovation in authentic assessment and favors the correct use of technology, which can constitute a valid tool of conscious communication for the new generations.

App, Computer Supported Collaborative Learning Education, Digital Learning, Gaming, Natural Risk Reduction, Safety.