The Escolabers Meeting 2022 took place at the Institut Botànic de Barcelona (IBB) on 28 June 2022. This meeting is an initiative promoted by Barcelona Ciència i Universitats from the Barcelona City Council to present and review the most outstanding proposals developed by Escolab over the last two years. Projects such as “VacunAcció”, “Alimentem-nos, naturalment!” and “Connectem Recerca i Aula” were presented. All these projects have in common that they open a new opportunity to bring research closer to the classroom.
Escolabers Meeting 2022 at IBB, CSIC
Around thirty Escolabers from research centers and educational centers, and the Escolab program coordination team, shared experiences and opinions, demonstrating that Escolab has not lost its essence during the pandemic. This was the first in-person event after 2 years. From ICMAB, researcher Sergi Riera and Communication Officer Anna May, attended the meeting.
ICMAB has been participating in the "Connectem recerca i aula" programme promoted by EscoLab during this academic year 2021-2022 with the project "Materials of the future for electronics" with an Adult School (CFA Singuerlín) from Santa Coloma de Gramenet. ICMAB researcher Sergi Riera and Communication Officer Anna May have been working in the project with the teacher Lídia Iglesias. The project involved two sessions in the school and one session at ICMAB, in addition to three sessions in which the students worked in class with their teacher. The topic of the project was the use or sustainable organic materials for applications in electronic devices and photovoltaics.
Escolabers Meeting 2022 at IBB, CSIC
The conclusion of the Escolabers Meeting was clear: although carrying out long-term collaborative projects is challenging and requires a certain amount of patience and dedication, students are enriched by participating in a project where they can use their critical mind and scientific curiosity. During the meeting, the participants could share experiences, discover new ways to approach research in the classroom and have a good time in good company, in a very special natural environment. They also could visit the IBB archives and botanical garden. An amazing place!
Materials of the future for electronics
This is the project developed by the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB) and CFA Singuerlín in the framework of the programme "Connectem recerca i aula" (Connect research and classroom).
This pioneering project was the first Escolab activity carried out with a school for adults. The final goal of the project (for students) was to design a product with new organic materials for the electronic and energy sector of the future, which responded to a need in our day to day life.
Visit of the students at ICMAB | ICMAB, CSIC
With this in mind, the students developed their idea and presented it through a poster and an elevator pitch with which they had to convince investors. The investors were the two ICMABers involved, a person from Escolab and the school teacher. Previously, the students had work in 3 or 4 sessions on the project, with the ICMAB researchers and with their teacher.
Visit of the students at ICMAB | ICMAB, CSIC
About Escolab
The Escolab program, organized by Barcelona Ciència i Universitats of Ajuntament de Barcelona, has as its main objective to bring schools closer to the leading laboratories, institutes and research centers. For fifteen years, more than 100 centers and research groups have welcomed more than 75,000 students between ESO, BTX and FP courses. In the 2021-22 school year, Escolab grew with new activities, new virtual resources to enrich teaching and, in addition, it included the last grade of primary school students.
The programme "Connectem recerca i aula" (Connect reserach and classroom) is part of the EscoLab program and aims to join science and education through the collaboration between a research center and the school professionals, in order that students can get to know the research from a professional researcher. The aim is to encourage the participation of the students, incorporating and approaching new interactive activities to introduce the science into the classroom.
During the Escolab 2021-22 course, a total of 34 research centers have offered 110 different scientific activities, with a total offer of 259 sessions and 5,216 students. These data show the recovery towards normality after two years of pandemic.
Let's see if we can participate again on the year 2022-2023!