A journey of an amazing 28 years

“This way, please, this way!” said Angela, one of the volunteers who welcomed the newcomers. Welcoming Pablo, 25, he said, “I came alone and this is my first time here.” “We haven’t come for two years and we wanted to take advantage of that,” said Christina, Talia and Iker’s mother. “We came to see some classmates from the Faculty of Science, who set up a stand for experiments,” said 19-year-old Kate, Lorena, Raquel, Erin and Natalia. Because the party was, of course, double: open doors to enjoy the enormous universe that the Museum offers every day and also the 25th Science Fair in which 873 students from Andalusian schools, institutes and colleges participated, with 62 scientific projects and technological spread. About Marie Curie Place.

But before we dive into too much futuristic science, what party would it be without singing Happy Birthday? At about 10:15 a.m., several hundred people gathered near the Biodome entrance to hear the Hop Hop Choir, which performed the well-known melody on a swing beat, under the watchful eye of an old elephant. With a joint ovation, volunteers, guests, zoo workers, animals, and robots fan out across the park to get the party started.

“Good day”

«On this bright Saturday, on behalf of all the institutions here, I congratulate all the people of Granada on their wonderful twenty-eighth birthday. Happy day to Granada, Andalusia and Spain ». Patricia del Pozo, President of the Parque de las Ciencias Confederation and Consultant for Educational Development and Vocational Training, placed special emphasis on the Museum’s role as a “national and informative benchmark”. According to Del Pozo, in these 28 years “the park has produced a model of educational innovation,” serving as “a tool for generating an alternative in the quarry.” He said, “This house is the great school for scholarly preaching in our country.”

Thus, the 25th Science Fair had more than 5,500 students enrolled from all over Andalusia. And one more fact, as a birthday present: “In the first quarter of this year,” the consortium president announced, “we surpassed the all-time record number of visitors, with 250,000 people.” The park’s vice president and mayor of Granada, Francisco Cuenca, shared in the joy, highlighting the “extra value” it brings to the city. “We are very proud of what the park has accomplished,” he said.

Private trip

Yesterday, far from the usual museum, the special note was made by the 62 participants of the 25th Science Fair, who brought everything. From the Lab of the 10 Most Beautiful Experiments in Physics, to Turning Our Head to the Center of the Galaxy with the Granada Astronomical Society, passing through the paper cities with the Dimomo Cultural Association, to studying life in rivers with the IES Padre Poveda de Guadix. And even a city built with Lego to improve recycling. “We made a prototype of a robot that detects, by color, what the container is,” explained Martina, from the Carmen Sales School in Santa Fe.

Angel, from his sophomore year of medicine, came up with a real pig’s heart and lungs to show how they work. Sofia and her colleagues at the Novaschool de Medina Elvira made a heater based on water, magnet-powered motion, and a copper tube. The first years of Bachelor at Ave María Casa Madre developed, among other things, an eco-house, a lava lamp and a robot with a yellow chicken that moves with hydraulic pressure. Students from the Andrés Segovia School created the School of Good Eating, and students from the UGR optometry department exposed the “false vision”. Do you want to experience how a color blind person sees? Put on these glasses,” Marta and Andrea called out.

Emma, ​​from the fifth year of primary school in Sierra Elvira de Atarave, explained how they created a geothermal system on the street from her school. And Adara, from CEIP San Sebastián de Padul, showed an interactive map of the lake. IES Cerro de los Infantes de Pinos Puente students brought home an electric car with sensors that detect obstacles and other vehicles. and that of the Salesians, a model of Mars to explain the launch and landing of the rover on Mars.

The students came from Huelva, Cadiz, Seville, Jaén, Málaga … and the teachers, of course, like María del Carmen León and María del Carmen Mina, from the IES Reyes Católicos in Vélez Málaga, who set up an escape room dressed as astronauts for the students. “They have 45 minutes to finish off the virus, return to Earth and pass the exams, which are taken from all those who take ESO and baccalaureate courses.”

Alvaro, Jacinto and the other 8,560 people from Granada enjoyed another science day in Granada. And maybe much more.