Youth Inventiveness: A Response to the Challenges of Microplastics in the Environment: The content of the workshop was thus linked to the issue of (micro)plastics in the environment, which end up in the environment in large quantities every year and cause permanent pollution of ecosystems and food chains, with a range of negative effects on living organisms. In the experimental workshop, students acted as scientists and scientists through guided experimental research work to explore and learn about the composition of plastic packaging and to discuss how to act sustainably when buying and using food from the perspective of food packaging and sustainable development.
Coordinator: Taja Klemen, Faculty of Education, KemikUm Centre, in cooperation with Katarina Mlinarec, Faculty of Education, Centre, and Dr Vesna Ferk Savec, Faculty of Education, of the KemikUm Centre
The Animal World as a Source of Inspiration for New Materials: In the introductory part of the experimental research workshop, students learned about examples of how the animal world is a source of inspiration for researchers synthesising new materials. They learned more about the defence mechanism of the hagfish, of the class Myxini. In the course of evolution, hagfish have lost their eyesight, which has led them to develop special defence structures. They release two types of proteins from their salivary glands, which turn into thick mucus on contact with water and block the mouth and gills of predators. The pupils acted as scientists, synthesising different mucilages through guided experiments and investigating how the amount of water affects selected properties (stickiness, stretchability and consistency). Reporting the results of the experimental work, the students reflected on the benefits and challenges of using such materials in everyday life.
Coordinator: Katarina Mlinarec, Faculty of Education, KemikUm Centre, in collaboration with Taja Klemen, Faculty of Education, KemikUm Centre, and Vesna Ferk Savec, Faculty of Education, head of the KemikUm Centre
