They will make puppets and prepare a theatre performance for younger classmates and kindergarten children. The performance will also take place on the European Researchers’ Night on September 29, 2023, to which kindergarten children will be specially invited.

Cvetka Sokolov, PhD, will also talk to the children about her other literary works and introduce them to the connection between her research, teaching English at the Faculty of Arts, and writing for children and young adults.

Project Coordinator: Cvetka Sokolov, PhD, Faculty of Arts

Mentor and Class Teacher of class 7 of the Waldorf School of Ljubljana: Gaja Červ

Milena Mileva Blažič, PhD, dedicated this edition to ImprovCosies (based on modern tales of Cosies by Svetlana Makarovič), ImprovFoxes (based on Lisice (Foxes) by Črt Frelih), and LittleImprovBeasts (to mark the 50th anniversary of the first edition of Zverinice iz Rezije (The Little Beasts of Resia) by Milko Matičetov).

Moderation and implementation: Milena Mileva Blažič, PhD, Faculty of Education, ImprovFoxes and ImprovSurprise with students

Workshop participants were acquainted with certain animal species (e.g. cockroaches, snails, spiders, mealworm beetles, wasps, butterflies, toads, hedgehogs and dormice) that share the urban environment with people. They observed tracks of birds and mammals.

They also saw how animals adapt to the urban environment, where their homes are, what they eat and how people can jeopardise them. They learned to thoroughly observe and recognise animal tracks (footprints, excrements, food residues, homes etc.).

They focused on animal species that are active during the night, when people usually sleep and animals can move more freely, so guided tour of the city also took place in the evening.

Moderation and implementation: Hana Pečar, Faculty of Education, in cooperation with students of Faculty of Education

Through guided experimental research, primary and secondary school students assumed the roles of scientists to discover and compare the properties of different materials originating in the animal world. Based on reporting the results of the experimental exercise, they reflected on the advantages and challenges of using such materials in everyday life.

Moderation and implementation: Taja Klemen, Faculty of Education, in collaboration with students of the Faculty

Participants were acquainted with certain animal species (e.g. cockroaches, snails, spiders, mealworm beetles, wasps, butterflies, toads, hedgehogs and dormice) that share the urban environment with people. They observed tracks of birds and mammals.

They also saw how animals adapt to the urban environment, where their homes are, what they eat and how people can jeopardise them. They learned to thoroughly observe and recognise animal tracks (footprints, excrements, food residues, homes etc.).

They focused on animal species that are active during the night, when people usually sleep and animals can move more freely, so guided tour of the city also took place in the evening.

Moderation and implementation: Tim Prezelj, Faculty of Education, in cooperation with students of Faculty of Education

Experts from the UL Center for the use of ICT in pedagogical processes showed them the basic features enabling the creation of content. They explored the various templates available and had a crack at making their own designs.

In Canva, they were creative using text, graphics, links and animations, they created a group to facilitate the co-creation of a design with their peers and took a look at the options for sharing and saving final designs to their computers.

Moderation and implementation: Sanja Jedrinović, Mateja Bevčič, Tadeja Nemanič, UL Center for the use of ICT in pedagogical processes

They discussed how to act sustainably when buying and using food in terms of its packaging and sustainable development.

Project coordinator: Katarina Mlinarec, Faculty of Education, Centre KemikUm in collaboration with students of the Faculty

This topic was featured in a lecture by Matjaž Gregorič, PhD, from the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

The lecturer presented, on the one hand, how researchers seek to understand the evolutionary importance of spider silk from the molecular level to the use of such silk in building high-capacity webs, and on the other hand, how spider silk has extraordinary potential as a biomaterial for human use due do its wide range of intriguing mechanical properties.

Although the routine use of spider silk has not been achieved yet for any purpose, this dynamic field promises to be useful in practically all spheres of human life – from direct use of the material and making new chimeric biomaterials to enhancing synthetic materials and inventing new ones.

Lecture: Matjaž Gregorič, PhD, Jovan Hadži Institute of Biology, SAZU Research Centre

Moderator: Taja Klemen, Faculty of Education, Centre KemikUm

Guided by researchers from the Faculty of Education, they compared the mechanism of the “fish” rising and sinking in the water with such mechanisms in actual fish, discussing the similarities and differences between the model and live fish specimens.

Coordinator: Mojca Čepič, PhD,  Faculty of Education, in collaboration with students of the Faculty

By conducting experiments, we determined different properties of honey (viscosity, crystallisation, the presence of reducing sugars, sucrose, water and ash content, pollen analysis etc.). We compared different types of honey in terms of their general properties.

There were 10 to 15 pupils participating in the workshop, and they were able to flow freely between individual experiments. The faculty took care of the guided conducting of natural science experiments, while teachers were expected to supervise the pupils and keep them safe.

Coordinator: Miha Slapničar, PhD, Faculty of Education, Centre KemikUm, in collaboration with students