Day 2: The heat is on!

Dear readers,

another day of learning and fun is behind us. Yesterday we had our first morning workout, the projects really started rolling and in the evening we participated at the round table discussion led by Camille Breton and Cathy Qualian from Paris-Montagne Association and Marko Kosicek from EVO. So, today we bring you Markos reflections on the round table, the latest project news and pictures and also an insight in our social evenings where we play board games, sing, laugh and generally enjoy good work and good company. Read it here first! :)

Petra & Neva

Morning workout

Today was our first day of the camp. We started our day with some Boolean algebra and some logical circuits (fun). When was the time to finally start to do some serious work with our FPGA board, we found out that it was broken. After the initial panic attack, and with the help from the others, we found out that only the adapter was malfunctioning. So, after the hours of work we finally tamed the board which is now blinking to our commands. -  the C3PU

C3PU crew at work

After waking up way too early in the morning for a morning workout, and Ante washing the dishes after the breakfast for half an hour, we finally got started. Today, the complete pioneers of the R programming learned how to work with data gaining new skills that will help us in the further work. We also learned how to draw cool graphs in R and make a 3D projection of a volcano.

Other than just working in our classroom on the computers, we conducted a small survay of heights of all participants and project leaders (except the DNA group lost in the past). These data was the basis for the introduction to statistics from which we have learned a difference between “mean” and “median” (google it).

The most important lesson today from our project leader Lucija (whose favourite ice cream is Macho btw.) is: “Please, don’t get hit by the car”.

P.S.  Do you know how to play: “bunny, bunny, bunny, bunny, jump, bunny, jump?”- the Databetes

Databetes crew at work

After a long day with hard work, communist chemicals, sneaky interrupters and dehydration we had to fight with Entalmology group for the material (Who is Entalmology group? Exactly!). Finally we succeeded to make our perfect nanoparticles. Beware the black goo! – the NanoCollective

The NanoCollective crew at work

We were very enthusiastic to begin the project. Firstly, we covered the context after which we made the first calculations. Then we continued on with the measurements, however we faced a problem with the laboratory scales, since we needed to measure a small amount in milligrams, and we didn't have the equipment. Even so we faced the problem and thought of alternatives. We came up with few and eagerly tried them. After few tries we succeeded to measure the needed amount and we were quite excited that our improvisation has worked out. And at the end of the day, our first sample is baking.- the Madd

The Madd crew at work

Today the temperature was even a bit higher. A sleepless night left a trace on all of us. Around 8AM we were coming to school as if we were zombies. Soon the fun began. As we were listening to the wonders of magnetism, our enthusiasm just kept growing. The day full of excitement passed very fast. Tomorrow is another, even better, day. - the Killers

The Killers crew at work

Another exhausting day, saved by our hero, our fantastic project leader Renan who stayed calm and gave his best to explain us math. We struggled to understand derivatives and other stuff we don’t really understand. Food was surprisingly tasty, especially Nutella for breakfast. We celebrated fantastic day with even more amazing social activities. We sang, danced, and play board games and finally we are going to sleep. Goodnight Požega, see you tomorrow! – the Unpredictables

The Unpredictables crew at work

Today was our first project day. On the morning we did some theory and we introduced the steps that we’ll follow during this 10 days. On the afternoon we entered the lab where we crashed the bones. The worst part was sowing a huge cow bone and sterilizing almost everything in the room. At the end of the day we were so wet as if we had a shower. Just imagine working in a coat, hat, mask and gloves at 40°C! – the DNATRiX

The DNATRiX crew at work

Bones before and after

Am I too young to be a scientist?

Round table discussion organized by Society for out of frame education and Association Paris-Montagne aimed to collect examples of good practices in science education form different counties and stress the problems which talented and motivated pupils have in reaching their full scientific potential. Summer School of Science together with Summer Science Factory work hard in popularization of science and education during summer, but many pupils need more. They are motivated and full of ideas and they would like to work during a whole year. That’s why we would like to create educational labs in Zagreb, Split and Cakovec, places where talented and motivated pupils will get the support they need. We are proud that Google recognized our project and awarded us with 15.000 USD, which will be enough to make “hardware”. To create the program or “software” we need to know what pupils need. Thanks to EU FP7 project SiS Catalyst we have organized this discussion in Pozega. We heard experiences from France, Serbia, Hungary and Croatia, different models and approaches.

During the round table discussion we agreed that it’s never to early to be a scientist and the science is not a job, rather a way of living and thinking. Only a small portion of pupils have opportunity to do something practical during their school education and support of their professor is often missing due to lack of time/interest/resources. Some pupils even think that extracurricular science activities are reserved for “smarter” pupils not for them and therefore they don’t even tray to apply for those activities (e.g. Summer School of Science). Take home message is – we are “normal” and we are looking for “normal” participants, so don’t be afraid to apply for our or any other program. And remember Martina’s message – you can do anything you set your mind to, if you really want to! - Marko

Marko, Cathy & Camille

All of us hanging out together