A new edition of the project “Agencia de NanoCrític@s”, of the Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragón, begins
El Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragón (INMA), the joint institute of the CSIC and the University of Zaragoza, for the second consecutive year, has launched the educational innovation project “NanoCrític@s vs Fake News Agency”, an educational project in great demand by teachers and non-existent in the current educational curriculum. The aim is to approach the scientific method by applying it to a real case where participants can arrive at a solution developed by their own means and reflective reasoning.
The aim of this project is to promote critical thinking and support actions aimed at training students in the process of generating scientific knowledge and providing them with the necessary tools to develop their critical thinking and evidence-based decision-making. It is important to note that in this project there is no one right solution and the same conclusion is not always reached. However, the key to the NanoCrític@s Agency is that participants learn to discern between potentially false data and previously contrasted truthful data, discovering the key steps of the scientific method.
New features in this next edition include the adaptation of the workshop for children’s education students, who join those of primary, secondary and high school, as well as the creation of new resources and tools for all levels, including a comic and story illustrated by Rafael Marqués, INMA PhD student and cartoonist, or an interactive game that will be included in a new digital platform.
According to the survey of Social Perception of Science prepared by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology, 51% of citizens believe that it is difficult to understand science. If we add to this that the area that we disseminate from the INMA is nanoscience, a branch that works at such a small scale that can not be seen with the naked eye, this makes its understanding is not very intuitive and can arise pockets of misinformation around it.
On the other hand, nanoscience is a multidisciplinary area that encompasses research in fields as varied as medicine, the environment and food, among others. These areas are exposed to a multitude of information that on many occasions is not contrasted and can give rise to false beliefs, myths or even pseudoscientific theories. For this reason, at our Institute, we consider it essential to disseminate this branch and the advances in this discipline to educational groups in Aragon through the generation of tools, such as this one, which encourage critical thinking.
Our extensive experience in dissemination has shown us that the dissemination of results is as important as the research itself, which is why, in this activity, the students are participants in the scientific method in the first person. This involvement on the part of participants favours the main objective of the project, which is that participants learn to discern between potentially false data and previously contrasted truthful data.
Registration is now open for these workshops called “NanoCritics Agency vs Fake News”, in which all Aragonese schoolchildren in Pre-school, Primary, Secondary and Baccalaureate education can participate in the 2021/2022 academic year. Registrations can be made by filling in a form and for more information, please contact inmadivulgacion@unizar.es; educacion@esciencia.es or telephone 976762777; 976875237.
Agencia de NanoCrític@s project
07/10/2021
