engleski

"The Shortcircuit" - an educational show and its role in communicating geological heritage on the Croatian TV Channel 2

Communication of the geological heritage became a frequent topic of the Croatian TV Channel 2 (HRT 2) educational program, "The Short-circuit" show in particular, which is aired every Monday morning and replayed in the early afternoon. The show creators regularly contact university professors and other scientists to comment on various science topics, or to provide educational and fun contributions on various issues. "The Short-circuit" is a live show, but some contributions are made on field locations, in research institutions and museums. The ideas for individual topics are sometimes proposed by the editor-in-charge, and sometimes emerge in discussions with the scientists. The flexibility of the TV media makes it easy to combine the topics filmed in the field, with live comments by professionals in the studio, as well as with contributions filmed in the research laboratories. When appropriate, a hands-on activity, or experiment, is also demonstrated. Geology and geological heritage is frequently a topics in "The Short-circuit", and shown hands-on experiments are designed with the aim to get the school-children and their teachers involved in study and conservation of the geological heritage. A recent example is a show dedicated to recently discovered fossil forest at the outskirts of the Zagreb city. The show combined a visit to the fossil forest site and discussion on its importance, a visit to the Geology Department of the Faculty of Science to provide information on the fossil types of wood and coals, then a visit to the radiocarbon dating laboratory of the Rugjer Bosković Institute to illustrate dating methods, the visit to excavation site with fossil leafs, and finally to the lab with demonstration of preparation of leaf replicas which mimic fossils. "The Short-circuit" shows have nation-wide audience.

education; television; geoheritage

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