Cerdanyola del Vallès, 22nd May 2019 The ALBA Synchrotron, the only synchrotron light source in Spain, has launched this year an educational project for primary school students called Misión ALBA. The places to participate in this first edition were run out and more than 250 teachers distributed among 176 different schools have brought the science of the synchrotron to their classrooms.
Last 17th of May, Misión ALBA ended and, since it had begun in January, the different teams of students have joined in the venture of solving the scientific challenges proposed by the ALBA Synchrotron. They represent 335 teams that include the total amount of 7,301 students from all over Spain, from Melilla to Galicia, from the Canary to the Balearic Islands, from rural schools to ones in the big capitals.
Misión ALBA is completely free and available at www.misionalba.es. This platform hosts four virtual laboratories related to matter, force, energy and light. In each one, the scientific and technical staff of ALBA asks questions such as: "There something more apart from what we see? What makes things move? What causes changes in matter? Can we see with invisible light?" Over the last months, kids from different schools have solved at the same time the four scientific unknowns performing experiments in their correspondent classrooms until reaching, at the end, the goal, and thus, becoming Masters of Matter, Force, Energy and Light.
In each stage, a videoconference with the ALBA scientists who had encouraged the students to carry out the experiments was raffled among the teams that have solved each scientific question. The opportunity to speak with them has been a motivating experience for kids who asked curiosities about the Synchrotron and the people who work there. Moreover, there was another big gift for the students: the grand prize of Misión ALBA is the visit of the synchrotron researchers to the winning school, which has turned out to be the CEIP Reyes Católicos from Guadalupe, in Extremadura. In the coming days, a representation of ALBA staff that has participated in the project will travel to this school to meet personally the winning team
The contents of the Misión ALBA respond to the demands of the official curriculum for this educational stage and have been designed for teaching in a practical and experiential-based way the scientific concepts related with the synchrotron.
The main objectives of the project are promote scientific vocations by giving a close, positive and motivating vision of science and the STEM professions and offer teachers resources to teach science in a different way. As the Director of ALBA, Caterina Biscari, says: “interest in science and technology appears when we are very young" and hence the motivation of this project, which aims to "awaken the scientific vocation and raise awareness of the need of science for the society".
The project will have its second edition next school year 2019-2020 and hopes to reach again the good feedback it has received among both teachers and students. Registration to participate will be available at the end of June. Misión ALBA has de support of Obra Social "La Caixa and has been produced in collaboration with Eduxarxa.
