The aim of the partnership between the CEISAM laboratory and Nantes University’s CST mission is to extend the Tech’nomad bus (Nantes IUT) by giving researchers carte blanche to develop and run interactive science outreach activities in the classroom. The project came to fruition with the first two ‘carpools’, which took place at the end of winter and the beginning of spring! The first took place in glorious sunshine with 43 CE2-CM1 pupils on Tuesday 18 March at the Jules d’Herbauges school in Saint-Aignan de Grand Lieu (44). Then on Tuesday 1 April, to continue the momentum at the Guerche school in Saint Etienne de Montluc (44), with 45 CM1-CM2 pupils.
During these two outings, three researchers from the CEISAM laboratory took part in the exercise of building and running fun, practical workshops to introduce cycle 3 pupils to chemistry and physics. There was one major constraint: the workshops had to be timed to coincide with the Tech’nomad bus and meet two classes during the day. Each workshop had to last around twenty minutes and be repeated 6 times during the day! Morgane Vacher, Estelle Lebegue and Yann Pellegrin were able to talk to pupils who were motivated and curious to meet ‘real researchers’ and ‘carry out dangerous experiments’ (promise, the workshops were very safe).
From the conversation that followed each meeting, we learned that lemons make you hungry, flashing torches make you want to party, and acetone smells good. To the pupils’ great surprise, chemistry doesn’t always go boom and bubble, but it’s still fun and interesting. It’s an opportunity for the class to discover science and the people who use it in their daily lives, or to question the representations that live in the minds of these young people. Physics and chemistry deal in many ways with all kinds of phenomena, such as electricity, light, colours and mixtures.
Well done to researchers Morgane Vacher and Estelle Lebegue, who took the plunge into scientific outreach with flying colours, and to researcher Yann Pellegrin, who is no stranger to scientific outreach!
Thank you to Ulysse Pedreira-Segade and Quentin Gaillard from Nantes Université’s CST mission for their help and support! Thank you to the two schools for their warm welcome and their commitment to scientific culture!