Freezingly steaming white flower dipped in liquid nitrogen and then crushed with a hammer, rapidly changing color liquids, small flames and some smoke. Among other things, they welcomed the 380 upper elementary school children who came from 9 elementary schools, primarily belonging to the Debrecen Tankerület, to the natural science presentation held in the main building of the University of Debrecen (DE), organized by the institution’s Faculty of Pharmacy (DE GYTK) – reported the university portal.
The deputy dean of the faculty explained to hirek.unideb.hu: I want to draw attention to the importance of science knowledge already in elementary school, because at this age children can still be easily shaped, and this is when their areas of interest develop.
– Here, even those young people whose school may not have a well-equipped laboratory can experience and understand from the related explanations what chemistry is like in practice. We are already trying to find those who we can make committed to natural science, he emphasized István Lekli.
Erika Hevesi-Mezőassistant professor at DE GYTK, said that they tried to present experiments that would easily arouse children’s interest, which is why they decided on demonstrations with, for example, changes in chemistry, gas formation, bubbling, small flames, color changes, smoke and lots of foam.
“Perhaps the biggest success was when we illustrated that it is possible to make ciphers at home in the kitchen with the help of vinegar, lemon juice and turmeric used for cooking,” he explained.
The deputy dean emphasized: the program was also related to Earth Day, because the basis of nature and environmental protection is to get to know what the materials that surround us are like and to know their most important properties.
– We hope that, thanks to this, we managed to arouse the interest of more young people in the natural sciences, and that they will also be motivated to learn the profession of a pharmacist, since chemistry is also the basis of the profession of a pharmacist – added István Lekli.
