Abstract:

Materials science offers remarkable possibilities for dissemination and outreach activities. The relationships established by this field between the structure, processing, properties, and applications provide numerous resources to present its basic concepts and research advances to diverse publics. The University of Valladolid (UVa, Spain) currently offers a Master on Materials Science Physics and several different strong postgraduate training programs in this area. Among others, a program focused on surface functionalization approaches of polymers and polymer foams, mainly focused on environmental applications, was recently developed.

This training program quickly attracted the interest of undergraduate and postgraduate students, driven by a genuine interest in applying their knowledge and research efforts on the environmental challenges that our society is currently facing. However, this research program also attracted the attention of a broader public. As a consequence, it was identified by the involver researchers and the outreach services of the University as a useful tool to disseminate science.

Accordingly, the teaching material and laboratory practices developed for the postgraduate training program were adapted to different levels and employed on diverse activities such as high-school excellence programs, scientific summer camps, and outreach activities for the disabled population.

Herein, the design and development of these outreach activities are described, with a particular emphasis on identifying the teaching opportunities of physics’ concepts, the promotion of the environmental awareness, the development of scientific vocations, and the adequation of the activities to the diverse publics. Finally, the efficiency and success of these activities are evaluated, taking this feedback about their implementation into account to propose further improvements.

Keywords:

Materials science, laboratory demonstrations, practices, research projects.