Anyone who takes the time to visit the Faculty of Sciences at the University of Lisbon (Ciências ULisboa) on National Student Day is guaranteed to have their hair stand on end – and a smile on their face. The group of 28 students from High School Rainha Dona Leonor in Lisbon, who were on a visit this Tuesday, did not deviate from the prediction. The adventure kicked off in the revamped Physics in Action room, which showcased the behavior of nitrogen-cooled superconductors and static electricity when it comes to making hair stand on end, and then moved on to measuring the maximum force an arm can exert. In the end, the device was applied to statistics that allow both the comparison of drug prices in two districts and the estimation of the average amount of ozone in a city. On the day dedicated to them, there was no shortage of young people expressing a desire to continue studying.
High school students visit the Physics in Action room and rediscover mathematics
"This visit revealed a reality that is not what we usually find in high school classrooms. It gave us a glimpse of what we could be doing in two years."
“This visit gave us a glimpse of what we might be doing in two years when we come to college,” says Miguel, 15 years old, a 10th-grade student in the Science and Technology area at ESRDL.
During this visit, which took place on Student Day, the entire itinerary organized by the Departments of Mathematical Sciences and Physics had the stated purpose of bringing science to the hands – or rather, the hearts – of the 10th-grade students. “I think the atmosphere at the Faculty is quite good; I found it relaxed and didn't feel much pressure.” “The teachers seemed approachable and dynamic to me, both in the way they talked to us and in the way I saw them interacting with their students,” describes Mariana, 16, a student at ESRDL.
The Physics in Action room features new scientific demonstrations to pique the curiosity of young people.
For the representatives of Ciências ULisboa, the reception for the students aimed at scientific dissemination and the potential recruitment of vocations in the coming years – and, coincidentally or not, the students from the Lisbon secondary school revealed that they were in agreement: “We were able to see different realities. It's something that also helps to understand which faculties we would like to study at,” explains Rodrigo, 15 years old, a student at ESRDL.
During their visit to the Department of Mathematical Sciences, it was the computers and students already enrolled in the Faculty that helped visitors learn about different challenges and methodologies related to statistics. In turn, the first half of the visit served as the first real-world test for the experiments in the "Physics in Action" room, which were redesigned to capture the attention of pre-university students around phenomena related to magnetism, sound, spectroscopy, optics, electrostatics, and other surprising experiments that pique curiosity.
"It is essential to strengthen the link between secondary and higher education."
“It is essential to strengthen the link between secondary and higher education,” says Maria João Carvalho, a professor at ESRDL who led this visit. “These students chose the area of science and technology. And here they can discover that everything is always changing and that there are always new courses emerging.” "Furthermore, it also helps to spark curiosity about science and can aid in choosing a path for the future," concludes the professor.
Group photo with students and teachers from Rainha Dona Leonor High School and professors and members of the management board of Ciências ULisboa.
See photos from the visit.
