The second edition of Biodiversity Week, promoted by Unicamp, will take place between the 18th and 22nd of this month at the Institute of Biology (IB). With a free program aimed primarily at students from public schools in the second cycle of elementary school and high school, the event will include workshops, practical activities, and scientific outreach actions designed to bring children and teenagers closer to topics related to biodiversity and research.
Coordinated by professors Samantha Koehler and Maria Fernanda Calió, from the Department of Plant Biology at IB, the initiative aims to broaden students' contact with the diversity of life forms on the planet and highlight the importance of biodiversity for environmental balance and human life.
According to Calió, the expectation is to receive 620 students aged between 11 and 15 years old, although some younger classes should also participate in the activities. For organizational and logistical reasons, the list of participating schools is already closed. In total, 11 educational units were registered and 17 classes will be part of the planned activities. “The idea is to make knowledge accessible in a space that is not the school. The activities address biodiversity in a more playful way, not like a traditional lesson,” she explains.
The program will feature 14 workshops related to different biodiversity themes, including fungi, fossils, shells, orchids, and other organisms. The activities will be conducted by 85 people, including professors, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and undergraduate students from the University. “In one of the activities, led by Professor Koehler, students will be able to learn about research on fungi associated with orchid roots and their importance for species conservation,” explains Calió.
Warmth
In addition to the workshop leaders, approximately 100 volunteer monitors from different courses at Unicamp will be involved in welcoming and supporting the visiting schools. Students from fields such as Philosophy, Education, Medicine, Engineering, and Biology will participate.
The workshops prioritize practical and interactive activities. Participants will have contact with biological materials, observations under magnifying glasses, educational games, and simulations of scientific experiments. “It’s a remarkable experience for them. Often it’s their first contact with laboratories, biological materials, and the university environment itself. Our goal is to highlight the importance of biodiversity and its vital role in our lives,” points out Calió. Therefore, according to her, the initiative also seeks to spark young people's interest in university and scientific careers.
The organization also hopes to strengthen ties between the university and public schools in the Campinas region. This year, students from Indaiatuba, Sumaré, Valinhos, and São Paulo are also expected. Some institutions that participated in the first edition have already returned to participate in new actions promoted by the extension group responsible for the event.
Biodiversity Week is part of the activities of the Plant Diversity in Focus program, developed at the IB of Unicamp, which seeks to broaden the school community's access to scientific dissemination and university extension activities.
Visit the website for more information.
Check out the workshops
- Biodiversity: What is it? Where does it live? How does it reproduce?
- Colors of nature: Exploring plant pigments
- Getting to know each other to preserve: The incredible world of orchids.
- Butterflies and moths
- Marine biological fouling
- The world of parasites: Diversity and One Health
- Studying mammals and birds
- Biodiversity: Understanding to Conserve — The Role of the Museum of Biological Diversity
- Educational Garden and its interesting plants
- Who lives in seashells?
- From the field to eternity: How to preserve and study plants?
- Unraveling deep time
- Did you know that fungi are friends of orchids?
- Plants of the Cerrado: How do they survive in nutrient-poor soils and cope with long periods of drought throughout the year?
