Seminar in the ‘Liceo Scientifico’ of the school ‘Pacinotti-Archimede’ in Rome
17.02.2017
Linfeng Ding
Beatriz Martínez
Our trip to Rome, due to the Mid-term Meeting & 2nd CREEP Workshop, was rounded off by a seminar in the School Pacinotti-Archimede on Friday, February 17th. Beatriz and Linfeng, with the wish to share their experiences in the world of research and to encourage more young students in Europe to study science, offered two seminars aimed at first and fifth class pupils at the ‘Liceo Scientifico’ of this school. The aim was to explain the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions, the CREEP ITN project and, above all, to advise the students on their future plans.
Outreach activity published on the website of the school
Link: http://www.pacinottiarchimede.gov.it/accade%20nel%20mese%202016-17.html#1-2017
To open the seminar, Beatriz introduced the great scientist Marie Curie and her achievements and briefly explained Marie Skłodowska Curie actions, the Innovative Training Network and the Horizon 2020 programme, emphasizing that science should be accessible by anyone passionate about it, regardless of gender, age or nationality. She also told about the CREEP project and why we are working on it explaining the importance of investigating materials and their behavior.
Beatriz introducing Marie Curie and CREEP project
Linfeng explaining rheology by using the visco-elasto-plastic material ‘thinking putty’
In order to clarify the concept of rheology and how different parameters, such as temperature or velocity, influence the response of matter to the forces applied on it, Linfeng used the ‘thinking putty’ showing the visco-elasto-plasticitity of this material. Most of the children were very interested looking this popular magical toy from a scientific point of view.
Following, Linfeng and Beatriz presented the Geophysics group of the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz (Germany), their host institution, as well their own background and current working.
Firstly, Linfeng introduced his glass engineering background by showing a video of how a window glass is produced, and he also talked about his master degree research concerning the recycling of industrial waste to glass products, highlighting the importance of environmental protection. Secondly, he explained his current project on rheology of glass under high pressure and why it is important to study that. Specially, he connected his work to Murano, which is a famous island glass maker in Italy since 1291, accentuating how great their glass technology is and encouraging pupils to study science in order to improve the materials in the future.
Beatriz then presented her training in mathematics and computer science and explained, through some examples, the important role that these sciences play in the investigation of nature.
Maria, the high school teacher in mathematics, and Beatriz enjoyed the seminar. They first met each other at the University of Barcelona (Spain) during their Bachelor in Mathematics
After the presentation, the two CREEP fellows had a discussion with some of the older students about what they want to do in the future. Some of them are quite interested in science, including physics, chemistry and computer science and asked about how to apply to future Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions projects and what kind of requirements are needed. Overall, Linfeng and Beatriz were very happy to know that the young students are very interested in science and in particular in Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions projects. We wish them a great success in the future!
Finally, we would like to thank the Pacinotti-Archimede School for the warm welcome and the actively collaboration of the teachers during the presentation, clarifying the doubts due to the English language or the scientific level of the talk. Especially, we appreciate the work of Maria who is the math teacher of the school and she kindly organized this seminar.
