Aviation and volcanic ash hazards: A flipped classroom approach to study complex systems

Abstract

Educational practice and, in particular, the flipped classroom models have had a significant impact on higher education recently. Challenging students with questions and problem – solving activities to learn course material is the educational approach used in the course of "Physics of Environmental Processes" that has been taught during the 2019-2020 academic year within the teaching activities of the Master of Science in "Geophysical Sciences for Seismic Risk" at the University of Messina. The study of complex systems, such as the relationship between aviation and the volcanic ash hazard, is highlighted in this paper. The particular subject being discussed in this paper presents the properties of complex systems due to the range of interdisciplinary scientific disciplines, ranging from various branches of physics to aeronautical engineering, chemistry, mathematics, volcanology, mineralogy, and management engineering, that students need to analyze and understand by using the flipped classroom model.