An “outdoors laboratory” in the Earth Science didactics and education: the example of the “Ardito Desio” Geopaleontological Museum of Rocca di Cave (Prenestini Mountains, Latium)

The “Ardito Desio” Civic Geopaleontological Museum of Rocca di Cave (Rome) is located at the southern Prenestini Mountains, and its geopaleontological collections are strongly connected to the territory. The Rocca di Cave area has a great paleoenvironmental and paleogeographic significance since it stands out as the westernmost end of Upper Cretacic neritic “laziale-abruzzese” shelf facies. Furthermore, it is the almost unique witness for the presence of a Cenomanian-Santonian edge in the western part of the shelf, whose fossil reefs were characterized by typical associations with dominant bivalves (rudists and others), gastropods, corals, sponges and rare sea urchins. The safeguard and the enhancement of the Rocca di Cave geopaleontological heritage is implemented by several initiatives and structures linked to the “Ardito Desio” Museum, dedicated both to the younger visitors and to general public. For school classes, in the Museum there is an oral presentation together with direct, reaching a higher involvement and pointing to a much wider interactivity. Last year, more than 4000 visitors (mostly school classes) have crowd museum’s rooms, in a tour designed as an imaginary travel back in time through subsequent jumps, from recent to Pangea supercontinent age, with detail to the Upper Cretacic. The integrated approach is powered by the presence of 3D-reconstructions and palaeogeographic globes, adding to the theoretical multimedia lessons and several posters. The direct observation of the territory and its morphology is enhanced by the 360°-view obtained from the Rock’s tower: that allows visitors, not only the little ones, to correlate the observed landscape to the morphologies and, with the next step, to the geological meaning. Apennine reliefs, Albani Hills volcanic district’s deposits, Campagna Romana, all the visible landscape elements, accompanied by most relevant toponyms, are reported in a strip placed on all the terrace perimeter. The guided tour doesn’t stop inside the museum, it continues along a series of geopaleontological paths evidenced by signs, all of them around Rocca di Cave. A real outdoors interactive laboratory, where visitors can touch rocks and fossils: the children were driven to an active participation and to a full involvement. This goal is facilitated by the materials given to the visitors that also include drawings, explanatory notes referable to the paths; a part of the graphic products is dedicated to elementary school and based on comics: representing fossils as protagonists of funny episodes allows children to approach an unknown world with elements which they growing up every day together. In the near future, it’s planned to improve both the didactic material dedicated to the outcrops, and the number of paths. Among the new projects there is the first issue of the scientific journal linked to the Museum, “I Quaderni del Museo”, intended for distribution in schools and for a general audience. The journal provides insights on topics closely correlated to the Rocca di Cave geology, a further interpretative key of the natural environment, besides divulgation columns and general geological interest topics. Again, particular attention is directed to younger readers, with a central double page full of games, cartoons and comics. The geosites conservation and the knowledge organization in museums should be flanked by the growing attemp to approach both adult citizens and younger one to the italian natural heritage, thus to educate citizenship much more responsible, mature and careful to environmental respect and to its history.