The geoscience communication school: a new approach for sharing science

In 2016 we have organized the first international geoscience communication school with the purpose of promoting communication skills in scientists: communication not only meant for education but also designed to reach scientific objectives. All the lectures were accompanied by laboratories and the students experienced concrete activities and were able to practice what they just learnt getting feedbacks directly from the lecturers and the general public. Some innovative laboratories were implemented for the first time during this school: - with the "Poster Lab" each student presented a poster at the beginning of the school and the posters were corrected and improved at the end of the school; - with the "Pick the victim Lab" several local people with different backgrounds, different education level and not involved in scientific activities were invited to the school to interpret the being "victims" of the school participants. It was requested to the victims to listen the students` presentations and to be honest and frank with the researchers, telling them if they were using difficult terms and if they did not understand the concepts they were trying to explain. The objective of this laboratory was to force the students to use plain language understandable by any type of audience. As an alternative, the researchers were free to go outdoor, in the town center, and they had to stop local people or tourists explaining to explain them the research activity in a few minutes. All the laboratories were successful and appreciated by the school students. At the end of the school a survey was conducted within the researchers and the audiences to understand the strengths and the weaknesses of the event.