Outreach program for the Invisibles24 Workshop, on July 5, 2024, the inVISIBILI project team.

October 11, 2024 by RebecaBV

Flyers announcing the event were distributed at local toy shops, children's bookstores, and other relevant locations. Around 100 children aged 3 to 12 participated in the event, accompanied by their families. The outreach program included three stations, each tailored to a specific age group, featuring scientific experiments, storytelling about the invisible universe, and interactive games. For the youngest participants who could not engage in the games, a station with colouring sheets was organised. At the end of the event, participants received a certificate of participation and an escape room book about the adventures of Oscurina, a Dark Matter particle, which was designed by the inVISIBILI team.

Short abstract about the inVISIBILI project: inVISIBILI is an outreach and research initiative targeting children aged 5-10 led by the University of Bologna, in partnership with the EU-funded ITN HIDDeN and CosmicAntiNuclei projects. The objectives of inVISIBILI are to spark curiosity about the nature's marvels, particularly focusing on the ‘invisible’ Universe, like Dark Matter and Neutrinos, as well as to mitigate the development of gender stereotypes and their impact on the learning mindset of young children by creating an inclusive and gender-neutral learning environment. To accomplish these objectives, we designed a sequence of interactive activities to be carried out during two events in each participating classroom and led by gender-balanced teams of physics researchers and students who received training on gender issues, children-focused science communication, and pedagogy.

Concurrently, a research study investigating gender stereotypes in young children was conducted.  In 2024, the pilot edition of the project reached around 1600 children across more than 60 classes and involved 60 researchers and students in the activities.