'Having young people who are prepared and have their own criteria is the main way to ensure a better world'

Vanessa Tabernero is a professor in the Department of Organic and Inorganic Chemistry at UAH and has been recognized with the award for the 'Most original and innovative formula to spread science among society' in the Science Promotion and Dissemination Awards for the 'Choose an Element' contest, held on the occasion of the International Year of the Periodic Table, to spread the knowledge of chemistry among high school students.

- What does it mean for you to receive this recognition?

The awards are always a support and encourage to continue working for initiatives that, despite requiring much effort, are worthwhile. I firmly believe that young people are the future of any society: having young people who are prepared and have their own criteria is the main way to ensure a better world, that´s why investing time in them is always worthwhile, and if they recognize you much better.

This award means the consideration from Universidad de Alcalá to a great effort, which is the result of a teamwork, because this project has involved more teachers of the Degree in Chemistry that from the beginning showed their support to the idea.

- What has the initiative presented consisted of?

The contest 'Choose an Element' was held on the occasion of the International Year of the Periodic Table in 2019, which celebrated 150 years since the Russian scientist Mendeléiev created the first version of it. As a result, the competition was raised with the intention that middle school students would choose an element of the Periodic Table and perform an original work on it. We intended to bring chemistry, and more specifically the Periodic Table, closer to secondary school students in an alternative and more entertaining way that would allow them to know the many uses and utilities that the chemical elements that make up everything around us have.

The University of Alcalá, through the Dean of Chemistry of the Faculty of Sciences and in coordination with the Instituto de Química Andrés Manuel del Río (IQAR), coordinated part of the activity and held a final contest among the participants of the Madrid-East zone. But I would like to point out that the competition was launched throughout the Madrid community with the collaboration of various institutions led by the RSEQ-STM (Real Sociedad Española de Química- sección Madrid / Royal Spanish Society of Chemistry- Madrid section) , where I want to highlight the work of Bernardo Herradón, and in which the CSIC (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas / Higher Council for Scientific Research), the Association of Chemicals of Madrid (AQM) and several universities such as the UAM, the UCM and the URJC. The professors of the UAH are part of the jury that chose the works of Madrid-Este and also of the final jury that selected the winning works of Madrid.

- How did high school students welcome this initiative?

This event was a stunning welcome among the students and about 450 impressive quality jobs were presented, the best thing is that it involved about 2,500 young people. As for the centers that attended in the Henares corridor, they belong to population centers near the University and are located in Alcalá de Henares, Guadalajara, Azuqueca de Henares. Specifically, the following schools participated: IES Isidra de Guzmán, IES Martínez Vázquez de Arce, IES Profesor Domínguez-Ortiz, IES Lope de Vega, IES Gaspar Sanz, Colegio Salesiano de Guadalajara, Colegio San Gabriel, Colegio Agustiniano which meant a total of 226 students of the ESO and Bachillerato. The contestants prepared wonderful works very imaginative and varied: models, videos, posters, web pages, programming works, songs, power point, magazine articles and games etc.

- Which winning project was the most original and why?

It should be noted that the prize finalist in Madrid was the same one that won the contest in the Madrid-East area with a group of young people from IES Professor Domínguez-Ortiz de Azuqueca de Henares led by Guillermo Montero former UAH student and current member of the university choir. The students presented a work about the holmium based on the television program 'Spaniards for the World'. In this case it was a video that simulated a chapter of a program entitled 'Elements for the World'. It´s worth watching the winning video in which students become reporters to interview the holmium element whose name derives from the Latin name of Stockholm City (Holmia). That already gives us an idea of which country we are going to travel to discover its life, which serves as a pretext to talk about its discoverers or their family, which would be the chemical elements of similar properties. The truth is that the simile is very well used.

- Do you think more initiatives of this kind are necessary for science to be properly disseminated among society?

This type of 'extracurricular' activities are of great interest and are necessary to awaken scientific vocations at ages that are crucial when choosing future studies. In the interview with the news magazine eldiario.es Professor Guillermo Montero, tutor of many works of the presented ones, in addition to the work winning the gold medal, he indicated very well what these kinds of initiatives are for and what he intended when proposing to them to participate. Guillermo concluded by saying that 'my idea was that the students would see chemistry in a different way, and that they would realize that it is not an arduous and difficult subject, but that it can also be creative and interesting'. I think that summarizes very well the idea that we were trying with this contest.

Universidad de Alcalá and the Chemistry studies have always been pioneers in this kind of initiatives, and there we have the case of 'Chemistry in Action' that will turn 20 years in 2021. The contest 'Choose an Element' has been possible thanks to the joint work of several teachers from different areas of the Degree in Chemistry.

I believe that the University as a higher educational entity, and as a place where knowledge is generated, must always be in the forefront and must propose to teachers of schools at other educational levels new projects that allow them to carry out activities that, even if they are carried out outside the curriculum, allow them to show Science from another point of view.

Furthermore, it must be taken into account that in some cases it is not possible to carry out certain activities in the centers due to material or time limitations, and by coming to the University or participating in these competitions, different perspectives of Science are achieved.

Finally, I believe that with this contest the Decanate of Chemistry of Chemistry put the finishing touch to a year full of informative activities whose main axis was the Periodic Table of the elements, and the award shows the great support and involvement that the UAH has with this type of initiatives.

 

Publicado en: Inglés