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Experiencing geology at the Science Festival in Zagreb, Croatia

Whether individually, through the Faculty of Science, or as members of ProGEO-Croatia, we have been introducing geology to the public at Zagreb Science Festival since 2004. Our activities range from exhibitions (i.e. Climate through the Earth's history), workshops (making plaster fossil replicas, earthquakes, Earth in Space, impact craters, etc...) and lectures (various earth science topics). The exhibition on climate had been set up two years in a row at different locations, and both times it attracted a lot of attention (regardless of age and educational background of visitors), with its large, colorful maps and posters, and fossils displayed for all to look and touch. Student-animators would answer the questions and provide additional information. All our workshops include direct contact and continuous interaction with all of the participants. We choose the activities which our youngest visitors can do by themselves, but with simple "upgrades", those activities become interesting to older visitors as well. Usually, parents who come with children would first let the children "play", and then would often join in themselves, in some cases showing even more interest and enthusiasm. Lectures are in fact multimedia presentations which last for an hour, typically ending in lively discussions. In this age of picture and sound, the public expects and demands visually captivating journey through science, instead of traditional ex-cathedra lecture filled with incomprehensive words. Science Festivals are excellent tools for communicating geology to the public, which is already sensitized to the subject through everyday news and entertainment programmes concerning various aspects of geosciences. Things learned through fun, hands-on activities get memorized more quickly and are given greater personal significance. Educating people about geology in such way lets them experience and understand its importance and, consequently, the importance of geological heritage.

Science Festival; workshop; exhibition; lecture; public

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