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01/03/2021 News

Traveling scientific workshops - a breath of fresh air

Curiosity, creativity, experimentation - with support from Total, Lacq Odyssée is sowing the seeds for the first program of events outside the Science Odyssey center in Pau.

  • The ambition of Lacq Odyssey is to make science accessible to everyone and to school pupils and students in particular, by presenting scientific concepts in a fascinating and fun way.
  • During this peculiar period, the team organized a program of high-quality external workshops, in particular for residents in the Quartiers politiques - priority areas - of the Pau conurbation
  • From chemistry in cooking to programming robots, the workshops attracted many students and teachers from primary schools and middle schools.
Un centre de sciences dédié s'implante à Pau - Programme préliminaire Nov 2020 > Jan 20201 écoles et collèges

With its direct links to the world of research and technology, the Lacq Odyssée team develops fascinating actions and projects throughout the year for school children, students and the general public. The center will soon be setting up a new team in a third place for young people in Pau. The pre-installation phase which ran from the end of 2020 to early 2021 was an opportunity to kick off an active collaboration with national education representatives from the Priority Education Network (REP) in Pau, to get to know the teaching staff from schools and middle schools and finally, to participate in lessons.

Between November 2020 - January 2021, some 1,500 pupils were able to benefit from the external program of events, backed by the Total CSTJF site in Pau. “The dinosaur workshops and the five different themes are led by a professional paleontologist who is passionate about her work. They are the events most highly-demanded by teaching staff, ahead of : Seeds of knowledge (on germination), our three workshops on microscopy, everyday chemistry (mainly for primary school children, and chemistry in cooking, but also Mindstorm (programming robots) and the microrocket.” explains Saïd Hasnaouï Director of the CCSTI* , and adds that “the Fake news session which appeals to the critical mind to distinguish fact from fiction is also a resounding success in the middle schools”.

  • Ici le programme

Adaptable and scalable quality events

“There is a real desire to work with teachers, to identify their needs and suggest interesting projects for their pupils, from kindergarten to middle school. And we have been given a very warm welcome by the teaching staff teams,” enthuses S. Hasnaouï. That’s how the first program of immediately deployable traveling events was created by the team and also aroused interest from Total, whose support has significantly boosted the CCSTI’s range of action.

Expanding the workforce, taking training courses, purchasing equipment, adapting content, integrating the events in school curriculums to ensure they fit in with the teachers’ project schedule, etc. This operation required a significant investment from the team, whose members have acquired considerable know-how on the subject over the years. Feedback on the events is also extremely positive. “The kick-off of the workshops coincided with the second lockdown period in 2020... Sheets explaining the protection protocols to follow in the light of the health crisis were prepared, but nothing prevented the workshops from taking place. In fact it was quite the opposite - teachers and students saw them as a “breath of fresh air” explains the Director. All the Science Odysée Pau events are free to schoolchildren and students for the academic year 2020-2021.

* CCSTI -Center for Scientific, Technical and Industrial Culture.