The Science Museum of the University of Navarra is organizing this year the first Cienceando summer camps. The initiative, aimed at primary and secondary school children, will consist of four weekly batches in June (last week), July (first week), August (last week) and September (first week).

The new camps have two modalities: chemistry and nature, with contents adapted on the one hand to children from 6 to 12 years old (with the possibility of dividing the group into two parts depending on the number of participants) and on the other hand, to children from 12 to 14 years old.

The two weekly chemistry classes will take place the last week of June (June 24-28) and the first week of July (July 1-5). The group of elementary students will learn concepts such as the states of matter and its changes or science in space, through edible experiments in which they will prepare their own lunch, understand how popcorn is formed or the bubbles in a soft drink, as well as STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) activities.

In the high school camp they will get closer to everyday chemistry. As Cristina Sola, professor of the Department of Chemistry and responsible for this subject, explains, "the idea is that high school students, who often feel chemistry as something abstract, arid and complex, understand that it is an everyday science, palpable and fun. That is why we are going to focus on experiments that they can do with their hands -without losing the rigor of the scientific method- with solutions that change color, fluorescent objects, colored fires and they will even have to solve a CSI case".

The nature camps, meanwhile, will be held from August 26 to 30 and from September 2 to 6, led by Environmental Science teachers Ana Villarroya and María Casas, and by high school teacher Ana Moreno. The theme, in this case, will focus on the search for minerals or the identification of animals and plants on campus, all through play: "Children have this innate tendency to seek contact with nature, to discover it. From the Science Museum we intend to feed that spontaneous curiosity with outdoor workshops and in the classroom, in a dynamic program focused on experimentation, again adapted for two levels: primary and secondary", says Ana Villarroya.

Hands-on learning method

These camps, promoted for the first time by the Science Museum of the University of Navarra, adopt "hands-on learning" as a learning method, or active learning, which seeks to awaken the interest of children to discover for themselves the processes and principles of science through exploration and experimentation.

Registration is now open. The price for each weekly batch -each one with different contents, complementary to each other- is 100 euros, with discounts of 10% for large families or for two or more siblings, etc. The schedule of the camps is from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., with the possibility of childcare service from 8 to 9 a.m. and from 2 to 3 p.m., which will be paid for separately. There is also the possibility of combining Cienceando with the Hi Artist! camps, organized by the Museo Universidad de Navarra, in which case there will be a discount of 10 € for each camp.