Geophysics course left teachers up to date in Earth sciences

This type of summer courses are very important for the interdisciplinary updating of the teaching staff, in very diverse subjects of Secondary and Basic education; was the conclusion of those attending the initiative “Climate, Ocean, Solid Earth and Global Change”, organized by the Department of Geophysics of the University of Concepción. The activity was carried out from January 9 to 13 within the framework of the Summer School of the house of studies.

The course was a set of classes and talks related to the physical processes that take place in the Ocean, such as marine currents, coastal upwelling and influence on the biogeochemistry of the sea; the Atmosphere, such as low and high pressure, precipitation, and clouds; and the so-called Solid Earth, such as earthquakes and tsunamis.

But in addition, this knowledge was merged with relevant talks about the determining influence of the human being, to the point that today a new era called the Anthropocene is being defined; or how this impact generates changes in nature and in the quality of life of the same people, including problems of water and hunger in large areas of the planet.

In addition to the specific contribution within the framework of the climate crisis of areas as relevant as numerical modeling or analysis of past climates or paleoclimate.

The course was offered by the academics Dante Figueroa Martínez, Oscar Pizarro Arriagada, Carolina Parada Véliz, Andrés Sepúlveda Allende, Ignacia Calisto Burgos, Matt Miller, Martín Jacques Coper and Rodrigo Abarca del Río. In addition to the guests Noelia Carrasco, Cristóbal Pizarro and Manuel Suazo. And in the practical workshops students of the Geophysics career collaborated.

Meanwhile, the assistant teachers came from schools and high schools in Tomé, Talcahuano, San Pedro de la Paz, Collipulli, Hualpén, Concepción, Chiguayante and Coronel; who work in the subjects Physics, History and Geography, Technology, Biology and Differential Education.

At the end of the course, the professors and academics agreed to continue working together during this year through talks in schools, consultancies to carry out physics experiments, student visits to the Department of Geophysics and culminating the process with an annual science fair in that the students exhibit experiments and posters with what they have learned.