CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

The ?Sciences Weeks?, carried out since 2001 in theFacultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, constitutean outreach activity aimed at the divulgation of knowledge of severaldisciplines, throughout stands activities, seminars and lectures. The event isaddressed to the general public, although most of the visitors consist ofelementary and high school students. Since 2015, both during the Earth Sciencesand the Physics Weeks, the Fundación YPF (Argentinean national oil company) hassponsored a stand called ?Geothermic: the clean energy of the Earth?, whosespecific objective is to raise awareness of the existence of this type ofrenewable energy available in many volcanic areas of Argentina. The didacticmethods carried out for this purpose consisted of the presence of exhibitors,who gave explanations and answered the public questions, as well as a number ofdidactic resources such as the display of a poster with a conceptual geothermalmodel, the projection of videos showing different thermal manifestations andthe display a three dimensional model of a volcano with a geothermal reservoir.With the latter, the exhibitors were able to perform an experiment to showgeothermal reservoir degassing and how a geothermal energy plant works. Thechallenge of the experience lied in being able to show to the community theexistence of an alternative sustainable energy resource that at the present hasno development at all in Argentina. Here lies the unavoidable importance ofscientific divulgation, as this knowledge is not known in the society. Inconclusion, through this experience, students as well as their teachers, had anapproach to these knowledges and learned about this sustainable energy relatedto volcanic environments in a didactic way. This new knowledge is fundamentalto understand the importance of using alternative energy for a sustainablefuture.