With this new online presence, the project has the potential to reach even more students and teachers, having a positive impact on science education throughout the global Portuguese-speaking community.
Science education is an essential component of modern education. It is crucial to impart scientific knowledge to students from an early age. However, many schools do not have the resources necessary to offer students a practical and interesting science education. This is where the Lab in a Box project comes in – now with an online presence.
Developed by the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC) in partnership with the City Council of Oeiras, this project is a first of its kind in Portugal and aims to democratize science education and make it accessible to students and teachers from all Portuguese-speaking countries.
The Lab in a Box project consists of a low-cost kit with materials that can be used in daily activities to implement simple and attractive experimental protocols, integrated into the school curriculum. The project has already benefited more than 1600 students in 18 schools from seven different school districts in the Municipality of Oeiras.
The new Lab in a Box website brings the project into an online format for the first time, allowing teachers and students to access educational resources and share news related to the project. The website offers more than twenty different activities that can be used throughout elementary school and also in middle school, to an extent. These activities do not require expensive equipment or laboratories and can be applied in a variety of educational settings.
The Lab in a Box project is aligned with the Gulbenkian Foundation’s strategy of bringing science closer to society through several ongoing initiatives. The project is also supported by partners such as the City Council of Oeiras, which supports the project’s implementation in the municipality of Oeiras, and the Merck Family Foundation, which supports its implementation in Cape Verde, Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe.
