The Millennium Institute of Oceanography (IMO) joined the celebration of science in the Biobío Region, helping to promote school science through the participation of its Outreach team in communal fairs.

On October 10 science took to the streets of Penco in a new version of the annual fair “Science Goes out into the Street”. During the morning, students and teachers from the eight public schools in that town gathered together in the Plaza de Armas, where children exhibited their projects and research on science and technology carried out throughout the year, robotics, electronics, botanic, astronomy and oceanography being some of the topics presented. IMO had an information stand on the mysteries and challenges of the deep ocean with samples of zooplankton and deep-sea organisms.

Subsequently, on October 19, IMO traveled to Coihueco, where schools also occupied the Plaza de Armas to exhibit their projects and scientific work. The Institute took part through an information stand and information about its main Outreach projects, such as “Sumérgete” and “The Scientific Recipe of Tony Tonina.” Udec’s Marine Biology program was also present at this successful event that brought together schools and the general community.

To conclude its participation in school fairs, on November 9 IMO set up its exhibition stand once more, this time in Laguna Grande Park in San Pedro de la Paz, next to the amphitheater and the Cultural Corporation. In the presence of the mayor of San Pedro and after a children's dance performance, the commune’s second Science, Technology and Environment Fair was inaugurated, in which schoolchildren from the 11 municipal schools had the opportunity to exhibit their research and innovative projects. Other institutions also attended the fair.

In this way, IMO has worked with both the school and the community at large by supporting and promoting science. Both the organizers of these events and IMO’s Outreach deputy director Barbara Léniz believe that the presence of specialized research centers gives a different atmosphere to the fairs, because it shows that there is a close link between school science and science of excellence. Thus new doors open up to students and their scientific activities immediately become more relevant.

It should be noted that IMO undergraduate student Tamara Cuevas, doctoral students Liliana Espinosa and Andrea Corredor, as well as Belén Franco, coordinator of the Travelling Scientific Audiovisual Exhibit and member of IMO’s Outreach team, participated in these fairs.

This year, IMO took on a fundamental role in the dissemination of the study of the ocean and its importance for society and the planet, since “The Oceans” was the theme proposed by Explora Conicyt to develop dissemination and appreciation activities at a national level.

These school science fairs were organized by the Coihueco and San Pedro Departments of Municipal Education Administration (DAEM), along with the Penco Department of Municipal Education (DEM), three entities with which IMO has cooperation agreements.