Even during the vacation period, Unicamp is still without the presence of young people in search of scientific knowledge, but the audience is a little different than during the school period. More than 200 children and teenagers participated in the 12th edition of the Vacation at the Museum Program, organized by the Exploratory Science Museum (MC) at Unicamp, in partnership with the Social Benefits Management Group (GGBS) and with support from the Institute of Biology (IB) . With the aim of offering various activities to introduce participants to scientific culture, the program is aimed at the children of students, employees and teachers at Unicamp and Funcamp between 6 and 15 years of age.
The current edition began on January 9th, with a group of children between six and eight years old, and ends this Friday (20th), with teenagers who are already starting high school. For the first time, the theme was biological sciences, with activities carried out in the facilities of the Exploratory Science Museum and in the Hermógenes de Freitas Leitão Filho Ecological Park, located next to the Barão Geraldo Campus.
Most of the enrolled students had already participated in Férias no Museu in previous years, and expressed surprise when carrying out fieldwork outdoors. Biologist Luciene Silva dos Santos, former intern and currently a master's student at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, acts as a mediator for Férias do Museu activities and participated in the preparation of the program, with the intention of making young participants discover the diversity of animals that live around Unicamp. “Each group of students built a trap, and the next day we returned to see the diversity of insects captured, discuss the life cycle of each one, and talk a little about general biology. It is important for them to be able to get to know the animals in order to preserve them”, explains Luciene.
Each student created a notebook to report on their fieldwork, and on the last day, they present what they learned to the others. Participants were able to discover the ecosystem of Parque Hermógenes, and debated with the mediators what should or should not be in that space, thinking about the balanced coexistence between people, animals and plants. Young people were also able to have access to scientific instruments for the first time, such as microscopes and laser equipment. In this way, they are invited to engage in an interdisciplinary dialogue with the Museum’s exhibitions. "From the campus activity we went to our exhibition "The Color of Light", where there is a part where we work on the issue of the insect's eye and use lasers and microorganisms. Let's then talk about our exhibition", says the manager of the educational sector at the Exploratory Science Museum, Georgia Carolina Martins.
High school student Flávia Fernandes Alves, 15, participates in her fourth edition of Férias no Museu and was surprised to have worked with a very different theme this time. "I found it innovative because we left the Museum and were able to learn more about the environment and the insects. I was afraid of insects and I learned that it's not like that", says Flávia, who also reports that much of what she learned in previous editions of the program she later took to the classroom at her school. "They imagined that most insects cause disease, and now they can see that this is not the case. They are animals with importance in the environment for the balance of the ecosystem, and the children received this information that they did not have before", highlights biologist Luciene Santos.
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The Unicamp Exploratory Science Museum was founded in 2005 and acts as an educational space for the dissemination of science and technology. Currently, the Museum offers the activities Challenge Workshop, Color and Light Workshop and the exhibitions Pátio Tempo Clima, Praça Tempo e Espaço, and Cor da Luz – the Code of Colors throughout the year. More information can be obtained via the website www.mc.unicamp.br, by phone 19-3521-1810 or email sectoreducativo@reitoria.unicamp.br.
