DESTACA: A FAIR FOR THE TRANSFER OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE, AN IDEAL PLACE FOR PRIMARY AND SECONDARY STUDENTS TO GET INVOLVED WITH SCIENCE

Destaca is the first biennal fair of the Valencian Community (Spain) focused on the transfer of scientific and technological knowledge, where industrial companies, research centers and institutions participate actively showing their scientific works. It is organized by the Chair of Ceramic Innovation “Ciutat de Vila-real” belonging to Universitat Jaume I of Castellón. This fair was born not only with the aim to activate the economic sector of the region, but also to encourage students to get involved with scientific activities. In this context, the fair includes didactic stands based on different scientific topics where experts disclose their technology to primary and secondary students.

Students can acquire environmental awareness by learning the process of managing and recovery of solid urban waste to reduce pollution; the use of alternative sources of energy (solar cells, wind generators or hydrogen fuel cells) and the design of new photovoltaic solar cells for building integration (BIPV), in order to encourage young people to value these new energy resources against the fossil fuels; the learning about simple chemical reactions and their applicability in real life; the demonstration of thermal treatments at high temperature (>2000 ºC) to obtain new functionalities of the ceramic tiles, using the laser technology; the application of robots in different everyday situations in order to improve life quality; the augmented reality that can be a new tool to visualize easily any chemical structure in order to improve their understanding; and the functioning of 3D printers to create a large variety of plastic articles. Besides all these exhibitions, Destaca fair offers a contest to design a drone in order to promote the scientific motivation of students.

In this sense, Destaca becomes a real application of the student-centered pedagogy, focused on learning a subject through the experience of solving problems by themselves (self-learning), promoting the development of skills and attributes to pursuit a long life learning process.