21 June 2019
“This is a small step for us students and at the same time a great leap forward for our future,” concluded one of the young congressman taking part in the Children’s Scientific Congress. The goal of the Event was to raise students’ awareness of the importance of the STEM (Science, Technologies, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines with a view to the future, work and employment. More than 250 school children from Italian Apulia Region took part in the event, which was held on 0June 7th at the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) in Brindisi.
Scale models videos, demos, cartoons: there was no lack of ideas for the 11 classes reaching the final, as well as passion, originality, enthusiasm and commitment in implementing them, under the guidance of the tutors of the University of Bari and Salento, the CNR (National Research Council) and ENEA (National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development).
After developing their ideas, two lively roundtable discussions were held between Leonardo, children and tutors focussing on professions in Aerospace.
The jury chose the three winning projects from the 6th, 7th and 8th grade classes “live”, selecting the projects that best combined creativity with scientific solidity and explanation capacity. It was a winning mix of skills, which will lead the finalists of this edition to make a visit to some of the technologically excellent plants in Apulia.
The doors of our factory in Grottaglie will thus open for the winning 7th grade class, II A/B from the school A. Moro di Stornarella (Foggia), which won with the project “Siamo tutti Lunatici” (“We are all moonstruck): the children will be able to visit the plant to learn first hand about the world of Aerospace.
Created to bring students closer to the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) disciplines, the Children’s Scientific Congress was able to bring together the forces in the territory: it was held in collaboration with the Regional School Office of Apulia, with the sponsorship of ASI (Italian Space Agency) and ESA (European Space Agency) and the support of ENAV and Leonardo, as part of the Future Destination orientation initiative promoted by the DTA.
A shared commitment has been undertaken by Leonardo regarding the dissemination of scientific citizenship, in order to contribute, in a concrete way, to the achievement of the 4th UN Sustainable Development Goal, dedicated to the promotion of quality education.
