Exploding volcanoes, burning palms, wandering bubbles, omnipresent robots and scientific demonstrations with the Tesla coil at the forefront. That’s how the first day of the sciFestGEN#1 Science Festival can be summed up in a telegraphic nutshell, and it’s fair to say that it indisputably belonged to the students of Jasło elementary and secondary schools, participants in the competition for the school stand, demonstrations and scientific presentations. The demonstrations prepared by children and young people made a huge impression on the audience, which crowded the GEN Science Generator on Friday. Tomorrow another dose of scientific excitement will be waiting for all science enthusiasts and fans of new technologies.
Young scientists rule!
The first day of the sciFestGEN#1 Science Festival began with a solid commotion, in a positive sense of course. This is because early in the morning, in the Auditorium Hall, the teams taking part in the school stand competition, demonstrations and scientific presentations began installing the equipment of the stands they had prepared. After a few dozen minutes, everything was ready. The tables literally yielded to the weight of the accumulated laboratory equipment, instruments, reagents, computers, robots and much more. Soon the audience, headed by Jasło Mayor Ryszard Pabian, saw with their own eyes that children and young people can make excellent use of these items.
This year’s science festival has a slightly different formula than before. For the first time, it is organized in the GEN Science Generator, a place dedicated to such events. The formula of the event is also different. For the first time, we did not invite an outside company to organize this festival for us. Instead, we invited our Jaslo schools and student scientific circles operating at universities. I am very pleased that we decided to adopt such a formula”– said Mayor Ryszard Pabian.
The demonstrations and scientific presentations also made a huge impression on the competition jury. At the same time, it is worth noting that the competition committee included Dr. Agnieszka Woźniak, Vice-Rector for Development of the State Academy of Applied Sciences in Krosno, and Dr. Katarzyna Mazurek, a researcher at the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Cracow, representing entities of which GEN is a scientific and didactic partner on that day. The competition was fierce. The final result was decided by nuances. In the category of elementary schools, the first place went to the team from Elementary School No. 4 in Jasło. Among secondary schools, the team representing Vocational Training Center No. 1 in Jasło triumphed. The winners received prizes in the form of educational robots and scientific gadgets. All participants in the competition, as well as the teams’ supervisors, received festival gifts.
Thrillingly interesting scientific demonstrations
On the first day of the festival, there was also an abundance of interesting shows and scientific presentations prepared by university students . The team of the Student Scientific Circle “MegaVolt”, who came to Jaslo with a fascinating “High Voltage Theater”. The audience watched with bated breath the electrical discharges resulting from the Tesla coil.
GEN was also visited that day by the “Rotor” Scientific Circle. Students of the State Academy of Applied Sciences in Krosno told about their flagship project – the “Saw” car, with which this year they set a Polish record in the length of distance traveled on one liter of fuel. What’s more, with the help of a special device, the students of Krosno-based PANS measured body mass components and checked the eye-hand coordination of festival participants.
Fans of new technologies could also find something for themselves. Students of the Technical School Complex, with the support of their teachers, organized a mini-e-sports tournament. Participants competed in it for laurels playing two titles popular in the gaming environment: League of Legends and Counter-Strike 2. More than twenty computer game enthusiasts took part in the fun.
The virtual reality zone and intergenerational programming workshops with LEGO bricks were also quite popular.
If you didn’t have a chance to visit the Generator on Friday, don’t worry. The second day of the sciFestGEN#1 Science Festival promises to be just as interesting. Plenty of attractions will be waiting for science and new technology enthusiasts. On Saturday, students of the Department of Chemistry at Rzeszow University of Technology will perform with chemical demonstrations. On the second day of the festival there will also be interactive demonstrations of molecular gastronomy. Virtual reality zones will also be available throughout the day. The two-day marathon with science will end with a “Story of Sound” performed by DJ Noriz.
Find out what will happen at GEN on Saturday here: https://genjaslo.pl/aktualnosci/szykujcie-sie-na-naukowa-uczte-festiwal-nauki-scifestgen1-zbliza-sie-wielkimi-krokami/
The sciFestGEN#1 Science Festival is implemented by the City of Jasło as part of the project: “Jasło – City of Knowledge” from the project “Jasło – my city, my home” funded by the EEA Financial Mechanism 2014-2021 and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021 and the state budget.
