Abstract:

“Asking for Science?!...” is a 2h activity of the Scientia.com.pt project consisting of hands-on activities where participants are invited to engage actively and playfully. The activities are designed for students of different educational levels, based on and seeking intersections in all areas of science. "Food, Nutrients & Calories" or "Scientia & Sustainability" are examples of themes explored in these activities. For instance, the first theme aims to raise awareness of the importance of a balanced diet, unveil the nutrients that make up food, and invite participants to analyze and decipher labels and calculate the caloric value of some foods. But several experimental activities can be shared between themes and are often included regularly: water footprint calculation; DNA extraction; microbial life in a Petri dish; extraction of natural dyes; production of natural cosmetics; manipulating labware; statistical data analysis; numerical calculations; etc. All the activities aim to develop an interest in science in a simple, appealing, but rigorous way, and are carried out in small groups of students (<6). Each session is supervised by monitors - undergraduate and master students - who are previously prepared to do so and answer questions or help with the execution. The involvement of monitors is doubly relevant: not only participating in all the process, from conception to execution with the leaders of the project, but also discovering different ways of science communication and evaluating a possible new profession.
The experimental activities can be accompanied by a lecture if requested. These interactive talks focus on scientific topics covered by the experimental activities and use suitable language for the target audience, being participants asked to intervene and to give their opinion. Cheese … Bread … and the calories? Where can I see them?, for example, takes into account that food is a transversal theme in the curricula, addresses the relationship between diet, different foods, and nutrients and the energy (calories) obtained from food and, for advanced levels, the connection between the digestive and respiratory processes may include cellular respiration. On the other hand, the talk There are more geometries than Euclidean Geometry exploits the cross-cutting education theme of Geometry and the importance of being aware of the existence of non-euclidian geometries, seeking to establish bridges between the geometry learned at school and its application in everyday life, using manipulable materials as a globe, apples, corals or lettuces to illustrate how geometric properties can have different definitions.
Learning in non-formal settings has been defined as learning by yourself, on your own, and based on your needs and interests. The activities designed for these environments cover the claims and everyday life of students and also involve the knowledge of controversial issues. During 2020/23 and regardless of problems caused by the pandemic, we received 10 requests from different schools. Around 50 activities were carried out, involving 354 children (4-6-9-12th grades) and 120 monitors. A survey among the participants, the teachers who bring their students to the activities and the volunteer monitors show how ongoing non-formal science activities have a broad range of variety and reveals how all experienced the joy and the excitement of seeing what science is all about.

Keywords:

Non-formal & informal education, Hands-on science activities, Science for society.