IREC, in its mission to disseminate and promote scientific culture in the field of energy generation and use, presents the project “Gara OpenLAB“: a project aimed at stimulating citizen participation in science and technology on a relevant topic, energy sustainability, in order to show current energy solutions thanks to the work carried out by the different research performed at IREC.
This educational initiative aimed at both a school audience (primary education, secondary education and special education) and a broader general public, represents a continuation of the successful previous projects “Gara and the energy that surrounds us” and “Gara 3.0“, developed in collaboration with the Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología (FECYT), Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, with which the generation and use of energy has been disseminated.
In a world in constant evolution, education plays a fundamental role in facing the challenges of the future.
Through this project, a unique platform is offered for students, teachers and the community at large to explore and understand the importance of energy and the energy transition in our changing world. In this direction, training into scientific topics and different tools have been designed to inspire and prepare young minds to construct a more sustainable future in which a revolution happens in active participation in science and technology, a crucial step towards a better and more conscious world.
The project aims to maintain the exhibition format of Gara and the energy that surrounds us but new tools will be developed: interactive suitcases intended for loan in educational centers. These suitcases will contain practical experiments and activities that use the game as a learning tool, allowing participants to relate energy efficiency, thermal comfort and air quality in their school environments. The suitcases will be complemented by teaching manuals aimed at teachers, adapted to secondary, primary and special education levels. These manuals will include educational sheets designed to facilitate the understanding and application of the content related to energy efficiency and air quality. There will also be face-to-face training sessions, one in each province of Catalonia, aimed at the teaching staff of the educational centers interested in receiving the suitcases.
During the development of the project, the exhibition and educational resources will tour jointly through at least four centres throughout Catalonia, thus getting closer to the rural world and reaching schoolchildren from each of the Catalan provinces through the exhibition’s hosting centres.
These educational materials will be designed in collaboration with Eduxarxa, experts in science teaching, and with the University of Barcelona (UB), with whom a strategic collaboration has been established to enrich the educational content and ensure that it is aligned with the best pedagogical practices.
A press release can be downloaded (in Spanish):
Acknowledgements (in Spanish)
Gara Openlab es un proyecto realizado con la colaboración de la Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología – Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades.
