In a competition organised by the Wrocław University of Economics as part of the “Be Enterprising” project, 30 schools from the Lower Silesian, Lubusz and Opole Voivodeships took part. The team from the Janusz Korczak II General Secondary School in Bolesławiec took first place.
“I came up with this idea at the beginning of the school year, and then we worked on it together in April,” says Adrian Fehring-Dworak from class I a. “That was when the final version of the Interactive Science Centre ‘Science Lab’ was created. We want to present students from various schools with experiments from the natural sciences, especially physics.”
The final presentation by the team from Bolesławiec’s II LO (consisting of Adrian Fehring-Dworak, Magdalena Broszko, Krystian Fecyk and Marcin Kołodziej—all members of the school’s basic entrepreneurship club, supervised by teacher Dorota Kurowska) was prepared down to the smallest detail. “First, I conducted statistical research into the demand for this type of service. The jurors told us that this influenced their verdict,” Magdalena recounts. “It is worth adding that scientists from the University of Economics offered to help put the project into practice,” Dorota Kurowska emphasises.
The county authorities and... one of Bolesławiec’s lower secondary schools also became interested in the idea. II LO headteacher Mirosław Sakowski plans to open the Interactive Science Centre “Science Lab” as early as September this year. It is to be located in room 113. “I think it is a fantastic idea,” he says.
The project’s originators want every experiment conducted at the Centre to have an interactive character. “Every participant in the classes will have an opportunity to verify it,” Adrian explains. “We do not want students to limit themselves to passive participation,” Krystian adds.
For younger groups, pantheons of scientists will be organised (teachers will dress up, for example as Archimedes, and answer questions about his scientific discoveries). “All this is intended to interest as many people as possible in science,” Adrian explains.
The money earned by the ISC is to be allocated to supplements for teachers, scholarships for students and additional equipment for the science laboratories at II LO. The competition winners also want to organise Science Days at the school and establish cooperation with the University of Wrocław.
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(information: ii)