Campus Gandia of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) is set to host the fourth edition of CiènciaLab this school term. This event is aimed at students in the 3rd and 4th years of ESO, and aims to awaken interest in science and technology careers in teens, as indicates Josep Àngel Mas, the deputy director of Promotion and Communication of the campus.
To this end, they have organized science and technology workshops given by university professors. Promoted by the Office of Communications of the UPV, the initiative is being carried out in the three campuses of the Politècnica -in Alcoy, Gandia and Vera- throughout the school term. Furthermore, the workshops offered at each campus will be in sync with the research fields carried out at each one of them.
According to Mas, “the number of workshops and students participating in CiènciaLab has been increasing progressively, reaching the 400 that we hosted at Campus Gandia last year from high schools in La Safor, Marina Alta or La Ribera.” So, thanks to its success, “CiènciaLab will offer more sessions in this new edition, with a wider variety of workshops.”
Scientific Dissemination and Education Workshops
During the first semester of the course, CiènciaLab will be held during the months of October, November and December. During this period, three of the seven scheduled workshops will be offered: “A Virtual Trip Around the World: Integration of GNSS in Google Earth”, by Professor Jesús Martí; “Modelling and Fighting Forest Fires”, with Rafael Delgado and “Pre-Cinema Workshop: Visual Principles and Optical Toys”, by professor Sandra Martorell.
Students from the María de los Ángeles Suárez de Calderón school in Grau de Gandia participated in this last workshop. During the session, the students were able to learn the visual principles that served as inspiration for the creation of the cinematograph. Likewise, they discovered and made some of the most popular games of the 19th century, which are based on these principles and which were all the rage with children and adults. These include the thaumatrope, the zoetrope or the praxinoscope, which are seen today as the predecessors to motion pictures.
Second Quarter of CiènciaLab
The second quarter (February, March and April) will host the remainder of the planned activities at Campus Gandia: “What Do Interactive and Immersive Technologies Consist of?”, by Professor Fernando Boronat; “Study of the Environment Using Satellite Images”, by Javier Estornell; “I Want to Be a Podcaster” with Raúl Terol and “Build Your Own Wi-Fi Antenna”, a workshop given by professors Xelo Part and Amparo Girona.
Source: Laida Frasquet Pascual. Journalist for the Office of Communications at the UPV.