More than a hundred students of 4th ESO and 1 Bachelor specialty of Science and Technology will participate in four scientific projects designed by university teachers
The Campus of International Excellence of the Sea (CEI.Mar) and the University of Cadiz held throughout the whole month of July Campus Summer Science Program, an initiative of the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) and Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, which has the support of Obra Social La Caixa.
It is the first time the CEI.Mar gets to participate in this call and get your organization as a coordinating body with the UCA. However, the gaditana institution was already the scene of Summer Science Campus in 2012, but this time by the Campus of International Excellence Agrifood (ceiA3) of the University of Cadiz is an active partner and coordinated by the University of Cordoba.
With the firm objective to enhance the interest of students of 4th ESO and 1 Bachelor of science, technology and innovation, the facilities of the UCA will host a total of 120 students who will participate in four scientific projects developed by university teachers and to be developed in laboratories and research infrastructure attached to CEI.Mar, between 3 and July 30, 2016.
This Summer Science Campus is committed to promoting scientific vocations among young people and, for this reason, offers its participants the opportunity to direct contact with the daily work of researchers at a university and multicultural environment that will help them define its projection of future studies. In addition, participants can enjoy complementary activities scientific and cultural and leisure that allow them to know our city and its surroundings.
The program is aimed at students of the specialty of Science and Technology who are currently studying in centers within the country and abroad-both Spanish education system and have obtained an average score of at least 8 in the 2014-2015 last year.
This initiative of popularizing science was presented this morning by the Director of Research of the UCA and responsible for the activity, Javier Benavente, and the general coordinator of the Campus of International Excellence of the Sea, Fidel Echevarría.
Campus Scientific CEI.Mar, the sea and everything around it will become an object of study and source of knowledge for these students. Thus, projects are designed: Marine Biodiversity of our coasts, coordinated by researchers Bartual Ana and Jose Lucas Pérez Lloréns; Meet the Salinas: «micro» to «macro», which is responsible researcher Macarena Castro Casas; Introduction to Oceanographic Research, coordinated by the researcher Juan Ignacio González Gordillo; and aquaculture and the environment, researchers led by José A. Muñoz Cueto and María del Carmen Rendón Unceta.
Know in depth the sea and its environment
In the first, students perform various activities at the Laboratory of Marine Research (Labimar) located in the Castle of San Sebastian. The objective of this project is to introduce students to the vast wealth of marine species and habitats that exist in the environment of the Bay of Cadiz, as well as the diversity of processes occurring in this area. To do this, they will be held workshops where theoretical introductory sessions will be combined with field trips (Santibanez, La Caleta …) and laboratory sessions, which will be discovered and explored the main marine ecosystems of the Bay.
Meanwhile, the project Meet the Salinas: «micro» to «macro» will focus on discover and know this space managed by man for millennia and is crucial for the maintenance of many bird populations before the current global change scenario. In addition, they present the potential of the salt as photobioreactors facilities, an innovative idea that is planning the University of Cadiz. Transversely to this goal, students will discover the biodiversity and communities associated with different saline environments and become familiar with microalgae and their applications.
The third block designed from the CEI.Mar and UCA, entitled Introduction to the Oceanographic Research, will teach you how an oceanographic research project develops type, using methodologies that scientists currently use aboard an oceanographic vessel as UCADIZ or by scuba diving. To do this, the activity includes the completion of several workshops that will take place in chronological order, following the same pattern as in research: establishment of a hypothesis, sample collection, sample processing, data analysis and discussion and presentation conclusions.
Finally, Aquaculture and its environment, the project will help these young students to make contact with an aquaculture facility (specifically with Central Services Research Mariculture University of Cádiz) and know the equipment, methodology and good practices of a plant of this type. They were also shown in a playful but rigorous the usefulness of this activity not only for the productive sector, but also for teaching and research, and will be asked to perform a complete experimental design with obtaining results and preparation of a report end to be presented in written and oral form, as a specific application of the scientific method.
Five days of intensive contact with science
High school students participating in the Summer Science Campus CEI.Mar can enjoy five days of contact with scientific research through its active participation in one of these projects scientific approach. Each will have a total of seven or eight participants simultaneously, as the student stays will be held in four shifts during the month of July.
In addition to the programming provided for in the four projects already mentioned, those enrolled in this initiative of scientific popularization participate in a series of complementary activities of scientific and cultural character (lectures by leading scientists and visits to museums, science centers and companies the area) and various sports and leisure initiatives as a series of guided tours of the historic town of Cadiz or practice of sailing and surfing.
The Campus 2016 Summer science program, in its seventh edition, has convened 1,920 places for teenagers from all over Spain participate in scientific projects designed by university teachers, and developed 16 research departments Campus of International Excellence and Regional.
