Keywords: children, education

Main users: Wider community

Biopark Science Club (Clube de Ciências do Biopark) is a project that aims to insert scientific research and environmental awareness into the daily lives of children and adolescents, as well as contributing to the dissemination of knowledge in the school community through socio-environmental projects aimed at the synthesis of biomaterials.

Biopark Science Club is a project that facilitates learning, which seeks to overcome the barriers between science and everyday life. With the current technological advances, in which information is just a click away, it is important to know how to filter it and use it with responsibility and wisdom. Thus, the main objective of the Biopark Science Club is to educate young scientists and contribute to the training of human beings with a critical sense and empathy, arousing their interest in socioenvironmental and scientific causes.

Biopark Science Club is entering its third year of activities. Since then, about 190 children, between 5 and 14 years old, have participated in the projects developed. So far, there have been 180 hours of laboratory activities researching, testing and carrying out different scientific experiments. With these activities the project considerably increases the time of contact between children and the world of research and science. Children and adolescents feel inspired to understand the community in which they live, with its problems and challenges and, working as a team, seek solutions and improvements through research and science, naturally developing soft skills such as creativity, collaboration, empathy and adaptability. The Program provides full scholarships for young people, covering 50% of the participants and works in different activities, according to the period. In the Vacation Edition, young people work with playful and scientific activities, with immediate resolutions, within a week. In the Research Edition, they work on ongoing projects, for a semiannual period, involving research, methodology development, execution and evaluation of the results obtained, ending the activities with a Science Fair, that is open to the community.

The project promotes, in a natural and progressive way, questions regarding science, nature, innovation and technology, so that children, by themselves, seek solutions to solve situations and challenges related to the current environmental problem. With the theme ""Production of biomaterials"", young scientists were able to research alternative materials such as bioplastics, natural dyes and natural cosmetics, define and execute procedures for the production of these materials and subsequent application and presentation at a Science Fair. In this way, with an innovative methodology for scientific teaching, young scientists participated in the whole conception of a scientific work, even in the research stages: justification, goal setting, planning and execution of methodology, results and conclusions. In the presentation stage, at the Science Fair, it was evident the excitement, pride and critical sense that the children had acquired during the activities.

The main users are young people and the community in general.

The project is carried out under the direction of Rubia Porsch (Director of Education at Biopark) and the coordination of Graziella Florence Miola.