Over thirty students from public high schools participated in hands-on activities related to the interdisciplinary world of science
Fascinated gazes and the desire to learn: this was the scene among the thirty-plus participants on the first day of activities in the Oficinas do Conhecimento learning workshop program organized by the Ilum School of Science at CNPEM. This program was developed by students enrolled in the bachelor’s program in science and technology as part of their Outreach Activity Curriculum, and is intended to share knowledge with students from public high schools in the Campinas region and present the teaching method used at Ilum, which trains future scientists to work on cutting-edge research in Brazil and abroad.
The workshops began on April 12 and will continue over another 14 Saturdays. Eduardo Henrique Gomes is 18 years old and in his third and final year of his environmental technician high school degree program. He hopes to augment his education with additional scientific knowledge. “Being here is an incredible opportunity. I want to work with science, particularly related to the environment. I’m fascinated with learning more in the area of science,” he said.
For Ilum professor Ana Carolina de Mattos Zeri, who is responsible for organizing the workshops, this activity provides high school students contact with a reality that is often very distant from their own. “It is an opportunity to learn more about a different higher education course and discover vocations. Contact with our laboratories and equipment can spark ideas about their future.”
The activities are organized by groups of eight or nine second-year Ilum students. Each class proposes activities related to topic covered in the classroom throughout their degree program. This content reflects the interdisciplinary nature of teaching at the Ilum School of Science.
During the first four meetings, workshop participants expand their knowledge on energy and illumination and their technical aspects, and also relate this knowledge to concepts in the humanities. From the very first session, the high school students participated in hands-on activities in pairs, using equipment to test the new content introduced during the training.
“Encouraging Ilum students to serve the community based on the teaching we provide is very important. These workshops help participants to develop many abilities, such as explaining and teaching scientific concepts in a clear matter to lay audiences. We need more scientists who know how to express themselves and speak to the public,” concluded Professor Zeri.
About the Ilum School of Science
Ilum offers a free undergraduate degree program that utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to train scientists and professionals in science and technology. With an innovative educational model, the three-year full-time bachelor program offers courses that connect life sciences, materials science, data science, artificial intelligence, and the humanities in order to prepare researchers to work in an ethical and collaborative manner in the search for solutions to the global challenges of the twenty-first century. The Ilum School of Science is funded by the Brazilian Ministry of Education (MEC) and is part of the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM) in Campinas, São Paulo, a social organization overseen by the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MCTI). Ilum’s educational mission offers early contact with experimental activities, in teaching labs at the school as well as at CNPEM, in projects carried out together with researchers.
About CNPEM
The Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM) is a state-of-the-art, multi-user and multidisciplinary scientific environment with activities on different fronts within the Brazilian National System for Science, Technology and Innovation. A social organization overseen by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), CNPEM is driven by research that impacts the areas of health, energy, renewable materials, and sustainability. Responsible for Sirius, the country’s largest scientific research infrastructure, CNPEM is currently constructing Project Orion, a laboratory complex for advanced pathogen research. Highly specialized science and engineering teams, sophisticated infrastructure open to the scientific community, strategic lines of investigation, innovative projects involving the productive sector, and training for researchers and students are the pillars of this institution that is unique in Brazil and able to serve as a bridge between knowledge and innovation. The research and development activities at CNPEM are conducted by its National Laboratories in the areas of Synchrotron Light (LNLS), Biosciences (LNBio), Nanotechnology (LNNano), and Biorenewables (LNBR), as well as the Ilum School of Science, which offers a bachelor’s degree program in science and technology with support from the Ministry of Education (MEC).
