Cerdanyola del Vallès, 8 September 2021 The fourth edition of ALBA Mission is about to start. This science educational project, organised by the ALBA Synchrotron expects 500 teachers being registered this school-year 2021-2022, totally free. The mission is developed online to remove geographical barriers and its contents, related with the Synchrotron, respond to the demands of the official curriculum for this educational stage. It is available in English, Catalan, Spanish, Basque and Galician. As a novelty, this course includes a teaching guide for the adaptation of the project for students with specific needs of educational support. Registration will be open until October 26th and the Mission will begin in November.
ALBA Mission offers a scientific challenge at the synchrotron: one mission with four stages that schools will be facing during all the school-year. Two “mission routes” are available: “Making visible the invisible” or “Discovering the power of light”. The first one includes four experiments related with matter, force, energy and light. The second one, more interdisciplinary, offers experiments related with light and its properties: Which role plays light in our vision? How it helps us to know materials properties? How we can use light to create practical solutions to solve daily challenges? Or even, how we can create art through light?
This year, about 15,000 students from all over Spain are expected to solve challenges introduced by the ALBA staff through the virtual web via video. Students will be performing experiments in their classrooms following the instructions of the Synchrotron team to get the scientific answer, until completing the whole mission. According to the students "challenges are simple but actually, you can learn many complicated things, while having a good time working with classmates."
Teachers also value positively ALBA Mission for being “a stimulating and motivating way of showing science” that “provides us resources and security when doing experiments at school” and “gives the chance to be in touch with scientists”.
Teams from all over Spain will be trying to solve the mission at the same time. Shirts and videoconferences with the scientists who have encouraged students to experiment are the prizes that will be raffled among the teams that will overcome each stage.
Moreover, the mission closes with a live on YouTube where all participants have the opportunity to chat with ALBA staff and ask them what they want. This final colophon was incorporated in the 2nd edition, when schools had to close due to the pandemic, and was very well received in order to connect boys and girls with the real world of research. In this way, ALBA Mission transmits a closer and positive vision of science.
With the collaboration of Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología. The ALBA Synchrotron is part of the of the Unidades de Cultura Científica y de la Innovación (UCC+i) of the FECYT and has received support through the FCT-20-15798 project.
