For the second consecutive year, ICIQ concludes the “Green, Educational and Scientific dissemination project” held at the Escola de la Canonja with a final event where the students were protagonists.
Last Monday 12th of June, the students of the Escola de la Canonja presented their own experiments in a contest-type activity, hence putting an end to a year full of scientific stories. From chemically powered rockets to the generation of colorful foams, the students performed and explained the experiments that they had previously chosen and prepared. The jury, consisting of the ICIQ outreach team joined by former members Ailende Eigbefoh-Addeh and Sara López, evaluated the different performances and rewarded the best ones with “silver” and “gold” medals.
This project, first initiated in 2021 with La Canonja City Council, aims to awaken scientific and technological vocations in the upper cycle of primary education (5th and 6th grade). Its programme includes a total of 10 visits to the school during the academic year where the more than 130 students learn about different scientific topics both by attending presentations and performing experiments. In this edition, different topics have been covered ranging from sustainable chemistry, such as renewable energies, artificial photosynthesis or catalysis, to other miscellaneous fields of chemistry such as supramolecular chemistry, polymer science or the chemistry of senses.
Key in the development of the project has been the participation of 20 ICIQ researchers who, in Dr. Joan Guillem Mayans words, benefited greatly from the experience: “These workshops not only allow the students to have a clearer idea of how diverse a research profile can be but also provides an opportunity for researchers to learn how to communicate their science in a non-specialized environment” a skill, he thinks, is becoming more and more important.
ICIQ – La Canonja agreement
The partnership with La Canonja City Hall extends well-beyond the school. ICIQ promotes other scientific outreach activities in the town such as the presentation delivered by Dr. Joan Guillem Mayans and Ailende Eigbefoh-Addeh about science and science fiction at Castell de Masricart on November 16th 2022, in the occasion of the science week. At the moment, two more activities are being developed.
