Simulating an earthquake and its effects on soils and buildings: A practical activity to disseminate geosciences and its evaluation

Abstract

Model-based learning is a teaching methodology that facilitates the learning process through the construction of models, which represent the conceptual models taught in geosciences lessons, promoting the construction of students’ scientific knowledge and the development of a meaningful learning. It is crucial that teachers know how to apply it in schools in order to support students’ learning process, but also because models are important tools for dissemination of science concepts. Having this in mind, it becomes relevant, beyond the analysis of its importance for both teaching and disseminating geosciences in Portuguese high schools, to provide some guidelines and recommendations about the use of models in geosciences teaching, based on the literature, seeking to prepare teachers to apply the methodology in science lessons and for making them more informed about the importance of dissemination of science. To achieve this purpose, the attitudes of Portuguese high school students towards the importance of model-based learning in teaching and disseminating the dependence of earthquakes effects on soils and buildings were analysed. The data were collected through a scale for model evaluation named Seismological Models’ Evaluation Scale (SMES), applied to 126 students who participated in Faculty of Sciences’ Open Days to Schools. This instrument was validated by two experts in geosciences teaching, and its fidelity was also determined.