The University of La Serena organized a lunch between schoolchildren and the exhibitors of the Astronomy Panel of the Congress of the Future, which took place in La Serena.

Within the framework of the Congress of the Future, the largest scientific dissemination event in Chile and one of the most important in the world, which took place in Santiago and in different regions of the country and which took place in the Coquimbo Region on January 18. , the University of La Serena (ULS), committed to public education, had schoolchildren from the communes of La Higuera and Andacollo participate in the lunch that the speakers of the Astronomy panel had.

On this occasion, 6 fourth-grade students from the Pedro Pablo Muñoz School in the La Higuera commune, who participate in the PACE-ULS Accompaniment and Effective Access to Higher Education Program, and 3 seventh-grade students from the Andacollo commune , they talked at length and raised their concerns with world expert in aerospace engineering Dr. Danielle Wood, from the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Dr. Guillermo Damke, associate astronomer at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory and associate researcher at the ULS Multidisciplinary Institute of Science and Technology; and the astronomer and Dean of the ULS Faculty of Sciences, Dr. Amelia Ramírez.

It should be noted that the schoolchildren expressed great motivation to be part of this activity due to their early interest in Astronomy. It is relevant to mention that the students of La Higuera will directly star in this year's Solar Eclipse that will produce the maximum darkening in that commune; and that the Andacollo students belong to the Skies Protection Brigade of the Coquimbo Region.

This meeting, managed by the ULS, was possible thanks to coordinated work between the Vice-Rector's Office for Research and Postgraduate Studies, the Directorate of Research and Development, the PACE-ULS Program, Link with the Environment and the Regional Government of Coquimbo, who facilitated the coming of Dr. Wood.

It is of great interest for the University of La Serena to promote this type of scientific dissemination activities and, especially, school impact, since being able to experiment in the field and apply the scientific method, or interact with researchers, are experiences that can be tremendously enriching for schoolchildren and mark a before and after in their training and in their vision of the world.

Source: VIPULS