Students from the Ernesto Yáñez Rivera Municipal School toured the campus and its laboratories for the first time, being guided by academics from the Integrative Biology and Biomedicine centers. "The idea is to permeate our environment and we hope it is replicated in other units," said Dr. Joaquín Letelier, organizer of the activity.
In 2019, the Center for Integrative Biology (CIB) of the Universidad Mayor held the first scientific dissemination talks in basic schools in the commune of Huechuraba. During the pandemic they were resumed online and this week students from the Ernesto Yáñez Municipal School were able to visit the campus for the first time.
Twenty-five fifth grade students participated in a "Scientific Gymkhana" organized by the CIB and the Biomedicine Center, which was positively evaluated by the children, their teachers and by the academics who guided the students through the different stations in the laboratories.
"The students were very excited. Everything is new for them. They were shocked when they saw the laboratories, they asked many questions, their faces lit up," commented its organizer, Dr. Joaquín Letelier.
The researcher also highlighted that this activity of linking with the environment has been growing over time and has been consolidated: "It started without any pretensions, only with the idea of permeating the science that we do at the Center to the schools of the commune, but it "It has become something permanent and we hope that it will be replicated in other units of the University".
During the year they will make another five visits to the Campus, bringing together about 160 basic education students from the commune.
"Thank you for the experience"
The boys and girls of the Ernesto Yáñez School valued the experience and expressed their gratitude to the researchers.
Most of them were struck by the work with flies - their severity is not the same as ours - said one; also that they were able to look very closely at "tiny bugs" through the microscopes; that the mouse's brain was very small and smooth, while ours is rough, said another; They found the way fish are formed and born interesting, as well as the number of neurons we have. "I find it incredible," said another.
The schoolchildren considered that the activity "was very fun and we learned many things," and they were also able to learn about the work of the scientists.
"Thank you for giving us the experience of learning new things, you were good to us," they said in chorus.
In addition to the impact on children, Dr. Letelier valued "very positively that this is a joint activity that involves many levels of the University, including the Vice-Rector's Office for Research, the Center for Integrative Biology, the Center for Biomedicine, the Ph.D. in Neurobiology, the Directorate of Strategic Communication, the Vice-Rector's Office for Links with the Environment and Protolab.
