Sun. May 22, 2016 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM 301A (3F)

Convener:*Kei Kurita(Earthquake Research Institute,University of Tokyo), Ichiro Kumagai(School of Science and Engineering, Meisei University), Miwa Kuri(International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University), Satoshi Sakai(Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University), Chair:Miwa Kuri(International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University), Ichiro Kumagai(School of Science and Engineering, Meisei University)

In 2006 to 2008 we proposed the session of "Invitation to Kitchen Earth Science" at the meeting of Japan Geoscience Union. Our proposal stems from two serious recognitions of the current situations around earth sciences. One is a need for intuitive materials to present/display research products to public. In the recent culminating outreach activities and collaborations between universities and high/junior high schools this session has played a role. The second serious situation we indicated is the current research environments. In the growing trend of big science and "selection & concentration" science policy lack of wide vision of researchers has been worried. Our proposal is to utilize simple experiments to activate our narrow-sighted brains in our rooms and class rooms. Currently this situation is becoming more serious and a need for kitchen earth science to "exodus" from the current state is growing.
The experiments essentially include the uncertainty and they contain unsolved problems. During experiments results are frequently going into unexpected regions and we have to cope with this flexibly. The experience of these kinds is precious particularly for those working on computer simulations and graduate students. To provide these occasions kitchen subjects are one solution. Recently we can provide DIY instruments at low costs but with sufficient resolutions/precisions. By using these we can design effective experimental plans in university class rooms as well as outreach activities.
The proposed session is composed of oral and poster sessions. In the oral session we preferentially focus on the role of simple experiments as a tool of brain-activation in the university education such as the freshmen class and graduate class. In the poster we will accept examples of marvelous experiments in the outreach activities.