Abstract:

This communication presents a Chemistry workshop held in July 2019 in the Faculty of Science of the University of Burgos. The workshop “The Chemistry that cannot be seen” was part of the “Inclusive campus, campus with no limits (2019)”, organized by the public universities of Castilla y León. The “Inclusive campus” is a program of Fundación ONCE, Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte and Fundación Repsol, which aims to promote inclusive education and reduce the school dropout of students with disabilities, as well as to increase the active presence of students with disabilities in the university and involve the universities in their stay in the educational system. For this, the campus offers multiple activities that pursue to motivate interest in the university education, awaken the passion for knowledge and discover their vocational orientation.

Twenty students without and with disabilities (visual impairment, hearing impairment, Asperger syndrome, attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity, Down syndrome, using a wheelchair, and others), aged 15-17, have participated in the workshop. Experiments in Chemistry involve four senses, which are sight, smell, sound and touch (tasting is not allowed in the laboratory), but sight is more used than any other sense. However, in this activity, the students have completed chemical experiments where the senses of smell, sound or touch are specially engaged. Different chemical reactions, which are visually observed but that can also be felt with hands, smelled or heard, were explored. Some properties of matter and concepts such as solubility, reactivity, etc., were addressed through the experiences, taking into account the training level of the students. The students worked in groups, in pairs, to promote collaboration, organization and distribution of tasks. The activity also served to sensitize students without disabilities to the needs of students who are disabled.

The workshop included simple and low-cost experiments that teachers and students could try at school or at home. In addition, in the framework of the Erasmus+ project “Oenoculture: Start of European enology. Prephyloxeric European grapes”, the workshop included some experiments with wine, to bring these students closer to the world of wine and oenoculture.

Acknowledgement:
The authors thank the financial support provided by EU (Erasmus+ project No. 2018-1-ES01-KA201-049936).

Keywords:

Chemistry workshop, smell, sound, touch, Inclusive campus.