In the occasion of the Pi Day and the Portuguese 17th National Mathematical Games Championship, LOBA organised – in collaboration with Agência Ciência Viva and the University of Aveiro – the “Aveiro edition” of the Bioeconomy Changemakers Festival.
The Bioeconomy Changemakers Festival aimed to engage young people as a driver of the transformative change towards a sustainable circular bioeconomy in Europe. The Festival took place both in the high-level event in Brussels, where GenB participated as a session speaker explaining the project methodology and the main activities to encourage future generations to be aware and interested in environmental issues, sustainability and circularity, and in more than 30 satellite events, organised by third-party Entities, enabling young people from all over Europe to take part in the European initiative.
The event was a result of collaborative efforts between multiple organisations: the Ludus Association, the Association of Mathematics Teachers, the Portuguese Mathematics Society, and Agência Ciência Viva.
At the campus of Aveiro GenB saw the participation of 1,800 students from every corner of Portugal. The students participating to the national competition had the occasion of implementing several activities designed to increase curiosity, ignite imagination, and overall celebration of science. In such context, GenB organised the Bioeconomy Village, Hands-on labs and a Career Booth to inspire and inform students ranging from 7 to 18 years old.
Teachers accompanying their classrooms to the competition have been involved to act as multipliers bringing their pupils first to the Bioeconomy Village, sparkling their interest with an exposition of more than 50 bio-based products, second to the “classroom sessions” where Hands-on labs and a Career booth were taking place.
In the classroom sessions, young students (e.g., 7-9 years old) have been involved in hands-on labs (e.g., conjuring carbon dioxide gas to inflate balloons), while high school students have attended the career booth.
This hands-on approach was meant to not only educate but leave a lasting impression on the importance of circularity in a context of mathematics and science. One GenB Ambassador had also the chance to present herself and her role as ambassador to the participants.
For the career booth on the other hand, the presentation was adapted to the audience’s ages and scholarly degree in each session. For the youngest participants, the speech was simplified. For the oldest, the concept of green jobs was more explored because of their most considerable cognitive development and comprehension. The presentation was divided into five parts: First, the definition of sustainability and the importance of the usage of natural capital without compromising further generations. The second part was a brief presentation of the SDGs and their relevance. The importance of sustainability for future generations, the importance of the sustainable and circular bioeconomy, and innovation for developing new materials, where we could show – in the Bioeconomy Village – bio-based products like apple skin “leather” or smartphone cases made of seaweed. This allowed to link all classrooms sessions to the future of jobs, asking the audience about what they expected to be the green jobs that could arise and their importance for achieving the SDG’s and a more sustainable future.