Motivation:
Mathematics is often perceived as a dull, uninteresting and unpopular subject. It is socially acceptable to say in public that one is 'no good' at mathematics, and the subject is often undervalued or disparaged in the media by public figures.
Many existing initiatives aim to improve the public image of mathematics in schools, through teaching and in the media. However, the majority of the population is not 'reached' by books, mathematics lectures and programmes on elite radio stations and TV channels.
Our hands-on activity aims to convey that cutting-edge science is often hidden in plain sight, and accessible to people of all age groups and backgrounds. This is exemplified nowhere better than with Graphene, the world’s first two dimensional material, which was considered not to exist in a stable form. Graphene was first isolated only in 2004 by Manchester scientists Geim and Novoselov who were awarded the Nobel Prize for their efforts. Our activity allows just about anyone to make their own graphene with nothing more than a piece of graphite (pencil lead) and sticky tape like ‘Scotch’ tape. Indeed, this is identical to the way graphene was first isolated and now produced in high-tech clean room laboratories around the world. With this activity, we endeavour to allow people of all walks of life to experience the latest advances in science, and we reward their efforts with a chocolate Nobel medal!
ES4FUN is a Physics-driven innovation platform with the aim of spreading both universal scientific phenomena and concepts in game context, with research high-tech and video+audio clip support. The organized events have multitudinary character, scientific-party-disco atmosphere, and active participation of all the attendants in their results.
In the context of the "International Year of Chemistry" celebrated last year, an entertaining play about the story of the periodic table of the elements has been written and successful performed in Jaén-Spain as a vehicle for highlighting the contribution of some researchers to the development of science, chemistry in particular. Thus, the story has brought alive, among other characters, Marie Curie who discovered two radioactive elements and scientists Dimitri Mendeleev and Lothar Meyer, who, working independently, put in order all the known elements and thereby facilitated the study of their properties, leading to the establishment of Periodic Table of the Elements that we all know and study. To enable the play to be represented and adapted to the characteristics of students in all schools who request it, the University of Jaen has edited the text of the play along with the recording of the first performance.
