Interviews

16/02/2012

Education Sciences Institute of the UAB director. Colaborates with the Children's University of Catalonia (UdN2.cat)

ACUP: Why do you think it is important to promote an interest in science in elementary school children?

MA: Children are curious, eager to learn. They like to be surprised with anything "important". The discovery of the world is a task that is delivered with passion but sometimes adults do not know exactly how to handle this curiosity. Children learn, for the pleasure of doing it, if they face is attractive and motivating. Learn to ask questions and find answers and looking for evidence contrasting opinions fosters an identity accustomed to take decisions with criteria.
ACUP: What impact does the UdN2.cat has in the future of the children involved?

MA: First, it may represent a new opportunity for collaboration between the university and other stages of the educational system. If the sessions are prepared jointly by faculty from both institutions, the results can have a success that exceeded the specific day of the activity. It can generate search and gather information prior to the activity, and can enrich the curriculum program that each school has developed by its own.

ACUP: To what extent this program is enriching our universities?

MA: It depends, but the mere fact of seeing children of 10 and 11 years at a campus can be a novelty for a group of older people. Activities are a challenge to adjust what professors say to an unusual public. Otherwise the UdN2.cat makes clear that the university is an active part of society. Showing the university to children, teachers and families "from within", with an attractive proposal, can be remembered as a landmark in mind when thinking about studying further.