Science Communication Workshop with USil's Stella Hensel-Bielówka, PhD

In 2010, Stella Hensel-Bielówka, PhD—together with a colleague from the USil Institute of Chemistry—decided to prepare laboratory classes in chemistry for children. The classes were to include simple experiments with safe reagents so that children could perform them themselves and observe the amazing results. These classes were conducted both in a workshop and lecture format. Over the years, they have carried out classes as a part of various initiatives, such as the Silesian Science Festival, the Silesian Children’s University, and educational projects of the University of Silesia for children aged 6 to 15. Thanks to this, many lesson plans in the area of chemistry and physics were created, which, in 2023, Hensel-Bielówka was able to use in a completely new, innovative version of classes for children. It was a series of 8 meetings held once a month for children aged 4 to 10. The innovativeness of these classes was based on combining chemical experiments with other activities characteristic of early childhood education, such as making art, singing songs or learning rhymes. Each class focused on one experimental topic, to which the remaining activities were selected. This is how classes with different titles were created, for example:

1. Let’s bake a cake
2. Rainbow
3. Squishy and slimes

The scientist prepared the classes with a friend who is a specialist in early childhood education and has a fantastic gift not only for inventing various activities but also for creating easy rhymes that made it easier for children to remember what happened during classes.

Thanks to this formula, we were able to let young children discover how interesting, surprising and colourful chemistry and physics can be, which, we hope, will translate into a better reception of these subjects at school and the choice of these fields of science in the future as a life path.

During the workshops, this series of meetings, its scenarios, best practices and the risks associated with such an idea for educating children, as well as the solutions we used to avoid them, will be discussed.

The workshops will be held via Teams. Participants who complete the workshop will receive a certificate of attendance issued by T4EU. 

Register now via the link; for more information, contact Iwa Wcisło-Maślanka via email at iwa.wcislo-maslanka@us.edu.pl.