Team:UPO-Sevilla/Engagement

ENGAGEMENT

SCIENCE FAIR

The 14th Science Fair was held at the Exhibition and Conference palace in Seville on days 5, 6 and 7 May 2016. The Science Fair is an educational and cultural project organized by the Andalusian Society for the Promotion of Science, the Discover Foundation and the Faculty of Sevilla Center. This year, the topic was climate change and environmental pollution. Therefore, we thought our project would perfectly fit in this edition.

This year the Science Fair included a STEM space + A. STEM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering and mathematics; + A refers to arts and other topics in general discussed in schools, more related to social sciences and education.

The purpose of the Science Fair is to create a space that allows the exchange, dissemination and communication of scientific knowledge, in which the actors-disseminators are pupils of schools, teachers of universities and staff of research centers and innovative companies. The development of this idea aims to achieve the following objectives:

  • To promote the dissemination and social communication of science.
  • Energize the teaching of science, incorporating active and research methodologies in the classroom programming.
  • Contribute to the development of scientific vocations through an active and practical approach to science education and contact with researchers
  • Encourage innovative and entrepreneurial spirit among the participating students.

In the event, most of our audience were school children. They were interested in the project and wanted to look through the microscope or magnifying glass all the time. We tried to explain our project to the children in a easy way, but it was a bit difficult and very funny.

According to the press, about 12,000 people, of whom about 5,000 are students, have visited the 14th edition of the Science Fair of Seville.

To explain our project to children, we turned our project into an interactive game. We asked children what they thought they could see under the microscope, and their answers were really funny and different. Many children thought they were dragon balls, because of its orange color and position. Other answers were carrot, flowers, stains, blood and small bugs.

  • Carrot
  • Blood
  • The Dragon Balls
  • Spots
  • Flowers
  • Little buggers
  • Among other things…

We showed children this petri dish. They liked its shape and color. Placing the bacterial colonies is similar to dragon balls. The children found it hard to believe that it each circle is composed by millions of bacteria.

To older children and teenagers we showed this scheme of the bacteria we work with. In this scheme, we also show the substances we use and we propose producing. One of the best ways to make science communication is to get the understanding of anyone. We think that this Science Fair was a completely success!

People have seen in our project the solution to serious problems in the world. A door to other major scientific advances. Everyone who stopped on our stand congratulated us and applauded our project. Many teenagers were thinking about what they wanted to study in the future and after talking with us, they felt attracted by biotechnology and genetics.

During the fair we made contact with people from very different areas: from teachers from Spain and from other countries to children of primary school. It was a great experience to show our project. For young students our idea was inspiring for their future, and they were very interested about DNA manipulation and the several proceedings about DNA manipulation that are be able to use.

In addition to a successful presentation of our project, we were able to meet other very interesting projects of other students. As a result we learned a lot about other scientific topics and, of course, we made friends. At this fair, we got to bring our project a little more closer to everyone. It was a pleasure.