The Science Museum of the University of Navarra will develop throughout this academic year the project "The Periodic Suitcase", an initiative that aims to bring chemistry to new generations through experimentation in the classroom.

"The main objective is to awaken the new generations' curiosity and interest in science, and in particular in chemistry, through simple experiments," says Cristina Sola, who is in charge of the project. 

The Science Museum of the University of Navarra will prepare 27 suitcases -with 40 chemistry experiments in each one of them- so that schools that wish to do so can teach chemistry to their students. Each suitcase will be equipped with all the necessary material to be able to carry out the different chemistry experiments with guarantees, from the protocol for carrying out each practice to the reagents that are necessary for its execution.

This project - which is funded by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) - contemplates three participation modalities. "The periodic suitcase is yours" is aimed at teachers of schools in Navarra (E.S.O., Bachillerato and Vocational Training) so that teachers, after receiving the relevant training, carry out the experimentation in their center. For this modality 25 suitcases of experiments are destined.

"The Periodic Suitcase is an educational project aimed at secondary school, high school and vocational training teachers. That is why we want to support the centers in training, in the preparation of laboratory material, but above all to facilitate its acquisition, which in most cases is complex due to the costs involved," adds Dr. Sola.

"The periodic suitcase visits your school" is open to schools throughout Spain and where a graduate in Chemistry from the University of Navarra, upon request, conducts a workshop of experiments lasting one hour in a school classroom. And finally, "Come and see the periodic suitcase" is the modality that takes place in the Science Museum of the University of Navarra with different activities for all audiences.

Schools interested in participating in this educational project can contact the Science Museum of the University of Navarra by e-mail at museociencias@unav.es.

The "periodic suitcase" project is part of the Science Museum's STEM strategy to make the teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects more attractive.

The Museo de Ciencias Universidad de Navarra, with the collaboration of the Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología-Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, and the FECYT are promoting this project, just in the year that marks the 150th anniversary of the creation of the periodic table by the Russian chemist Dimitri Mendeleiev.