Science is Child’s Play - MPI Hosts Science Summer Camp

From September 7 to 11, the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research hosted the fifth edition of the Science Summer Camp, an event organized by Sam Van Gele, a PhD student at the MPI-FKF, to bring the younger generations closer to science.

From September 7 to 11, the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research hosted the fifth edition of the Science Summer Camp, an event meant to inspire and spark the interest in science in the younger generations. The event was organized by Sam Van Gele, a PhD student at MPI FKF.

It was certainly a busy week for the campers. Just one week before heading back to school, they had the chance to put on white coats, safety goggles and get hands-on with science. 

From building a small model solar panel to observing elementary particles flying through a cloud chamber — which they helped assemble themselves — the campers were given a broad introduction to different branches of science.

More than anything, they learned about the process behind an experiment — from asking questions and testing ideas to learning from mistakes and making new ones, until the experiment finally works. 

In one of the experiments, for example, they had to combine water and a vitamin C tablet in a plastic cup and seal it in order to build a rocket. As with most experiments, the first attempt did not work as expected. And this is exactly where scientific reasoning came into play: What went wrong? What could have caused the experiment to fail? Was there enough water? Was the container properly sealed? And, most importantly, what should be done next? All these questions had to be carefully considered and discussed. And this is perhaps one of the most valuable lessons the children could take home from the summer camp: scientific understanding is a process and it often comes through a succession of trial and error.

But the Science Summer Camp was about more than only experiments. Throughout the week, the children were in direct contact with scientists at the MPI for Solid State Research.
To get a better insight into what life as a scientist really looks like, they interviewed several researchers about their work and their lives in science. They were then tasked with turning these interviews into a fun presentation about the scientist they had interviewed. At the end of the week, they presented their creations to their parents.

A brief reflection

Scientific research is nothing but a highly sophisticated form of play. Instead of action figures of superheroes fighting each other in imaginary worlds, scientists have countless possible theories, ideas and experiments to explore and test.

A scientific mind is a curious mind, and it was refreshing to see how inquisitively the children participated in the activities throughout the week. They asked questions, tried things out, made mistakes and tried again — exactly the kind of curiosity and openness that drives scientific discovery.

We would like to thank everyone involved in organizing the event, as well as all those who helped throughout the week. A huge and special thank you goes to Sam Van Gele for organizing the Science Summer Camp and bringing this wonderful format to the MPI for Solid State Research.

We are already looking forward to the next edition of the Camp!