Native brings science to children for the 12th year
The workshops of the Same Migrant Community (SMC) programme for this school year kicked off in London.
On October 18th, Native Scientists hosted two SMC workshops for the Portuguese-speaking community. The event was organised in collaboration with CONNECTS-UK, a platform designed to bridge the gap between the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) in the post-Brexit context; and Instituto Camões, which promotes the Portuguese language and culture globally. These two workshops aimed to connect portuguese-speaking scientists with local students from the portuguese-speaking community.
Instituto Camões has been a reliable partner for Native for many years, and both students and teachers
involved in this event are part of its community. The workshops also featured a representative from Instituto Camões, Cátia Verguete, who attended the event.
Asked about the workshop, Cátia Verguete said “The Native Scientists session at Thomas Tallis met multiple educational objectives and was therefore phenomenal. The students learnt that there are people from their community who carry out scientific research of the highest level in this country that welcomes us. Everyone left the session feeling that they can aspire to the highest flights if they put a lot of effort into their own education. I have no doubt that this applied science workshop is one of the most unforgettable Portuguese lessons for our students.”
The workshops were held by four scientists. Through the workshop's activities, students learned complex scientific concepts in an engaging and accessible way.
As part of a migrant community, these students are taught everything in English. The workshops show them that science can also be expressed in their heritage language, in this case portuguese. We combine science with one of migrant children’s greatest assets: multilingualism.
The day started with the scientists decorating the room with flags of the European countries. As part of a CONNECTS-UK activity, they invited the students to guess which country each flag belonged to, and which ones belonged to the European Union.
Liliana Brito reported that “It was interesting to see that the students knew that the United Kingdom was not part of the European Union. I explained that there are programmes that try to bring the UK closer to the European Union, like CONNECTS-UK, and one of the examples is scientists like us who go from EU countries to the UK”. The students also got a game with questions about the European Union to take home and learn more about it.
Following the discussion, the scientists introduced the activities, exploring topics such as:
Why we shouldn't remove mould from food and eat the rest.
What vaccines are and what they are used for.
How our brain communicates through neurons.
The bacteria that live in our intestines and their importance in keeping us healthy.
Cátia Verguete remarked that, “Thanks to the activities, we all gained valuable scientific and practical knowledge about how the human brain works, the role of bacteria in our gut, and the subtle yet dangerous ways in which mould spreads through bread.”
According to Liliana Brito, the activity that most captivated the students involved mould immersed in resin, providing them with a fascinating look at various fungi that affect different types of food, such as fruit mould and cake mould.
The coordinator also highlighted the children’s responses throughout the activities, noting that, “In general I think all the children enjoyed it, we managed to have a good interaction, they were very interested and asked questions. One student was particularly interested, so I asked her if she wanted to be a scientist, and she happily said yes.”
This is just the beginning of our 12th SMC edition - stay tuned for more workshops. A big thank you to the coordinator, scientists, teachers, and our partners that help us make these workshops a reality for children. A special thanks to Cátia Verguete, from Instituto Camões, for taking her time to be present at the premiere of this edition.
About Native Scientists
Native Scientists is a pan-European non-profit organisation connecting underserved children and scientists. It exists to broaden children's horizons, promoting scientific literacy and reducing inequalities through science outreach educational programmes.
About Instituto Camões
Camões, I.P. aims to be a reference body in the coordination and articulation of the government's foreign policy in the areas of international cooperation, promotion of the Portuguese language and culture as areas that are increasingly seen by states as instruments for projecting their influence and defending their interests.
About CONNECTS-UK
CONNECTS–UK is the first pan-EU platform in the UK aimed at fostering scientific collaborations between the EU and the UK, led by the community of EU researchers working in the UK. It’s a collaborative platform created in 2022 by the scientific diasporas of Finland, France, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Netherlands, and Spain in the UK, together with Native Scientists.
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