Outreach to schools
- Science Week at the Sylvia Phillips Primary School
- Science Day at a School in Olivais, Lisbon
- Speed-dating at the Gama Barros Secondary School
21 January 2010 – IGC scientists went to the Carnaxide - Valejas schools (about 5km from the Institute) for the school Science Week. Carrying with them different approaches to understanding the human body and our cells, as well as a challenge to discover some of the secrets of taste, for 3rd and 4th grade students at the Sylvia Phillips Primary School. More...
The teachers of the 6 classes gave us their feedback on the topics and approaches of the two activities
developed by the IGC scientists. Here excerpts of what they said:
"The topic seems very appropriate to me, both regarding their age and the school year they are in. As for
the approach, it was very accessible and interesting, since they enjoy this type of activity that is related
to their everyday experiences."
4th grade teacher
"They still do not have the notion of what a cell is, but the microscope helped them understand that those
very small particles are cells."
3rd grade teacher
"They love being able to use play-dough to make a copy of the drawing of the cell."
3rd grade teacher
"For me this was a very interesting and fun activity, as it is a good add-on to what we taught in the
classroom, and a good way for them to see what we have been talking to them about but don't have the
material to show them."
3rd grade teacher
"The approach was ideal! That they were asked to draw what they did was an excellent way of getting them to
think about what they had just done."
4th grade teacher
See here some of the students' drawings: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
9 June 2009- DNA extraction from strawberries with everyday reagents,
analysis of hereditary genetic characteristics and comparison of the
human and rat brain models, were the activities that IGC scientists
Sílvia Castro and Catarina Júlio, shared with the students of the EB
2,3 School in Olivais, during the school's Science Day, organised by
João Monteiro. Students from the 5th to 9th grade were very
enthusiastic and most took the mini-protocols of these activities home
with them to repeat the experiments. In the afternoon Sílvia and
Catarina, presented the IGC as a research centre to the 9th graders
and the school's science teachers.They covered some of the IGC
research areas and the outreach activities, such as the Open Day and
the schools visit programme.
http://armariumlibri.blogspot.com/2009/06/grande-festa-da-ciencia.html
(available only in Portuguese)
Catarina Júlio extracting DNA from strawberries and Sílvia
Castro explaining some hereditary genetic characteristics to students.
4 June 2009- Rui Gardner, Sílvia Castro e Ana Godinho, IGC scientists,
were invited to the Gama Barros School to speed-date with students
during their 'career guidance' week.
This was the school's first 'career guidance' fair, and it was with
great pleasure that the IGC accepted the invitation of one of the
teachers and main organizer of the event, Adérito Cunha. Students from
the 9th to 12th grade "speed-dated" with the IGC scientists on a wide
range of subjects. Some of the 9th graders had already decided to
pursue science, and others, still undecided, wanted to know "what
exactly does a scientist do?". With the 10th-12th grade students, who
were already pursuing science and technology course, we talked about
our research projects, university degrees, research models, life
experiences and research fields. This initiative was an opportunity
for the students to get to know about research and the IGC. We hope
that some of the students were inspired by our talk, and, who knows,
perhaps we will bump into them them in the IGC corridors sometime in
the future.
Rui Gardner, Sílvia Castro e Ana Godinho "speed-dating" with
students from Gama Barros School
