Years ago, my children watched a children’s adventure series set at the Butantan Institute. Their charm was such that at the first opportunity we took a weekend for tourism in São Paulo, with Butantan as the main attraction.
The kids were a little disappointed that they didn’t find ghosts or mummies of pharaohs, but they loved seeing the real images of Paul Ehrlich, Vital Brazil, Carlos Chagas and other scientists, and learning a little about what they did. For a while, there was a lot of talk about snakebite and vaccines at home.
According to a survey carried out by the multinational 3M, regardless of social class, age, gender and technical knowledge, 92% of Brazilians trust science and recognize its importance in their daily lives. It is the highest number in the entire world.
This is remarkable because, in fact, the Brazilian population has few opportunities for contact with scientific research. How many can name a scientist (Einstein doesn’t count!)? Worse, how many can remember a Brazilian scientist, or point to an important advance made by national science?
In the field of mathematics, Brazilian adolescents are the ones with the least exposure to the application of the discipline in their daily lives, among all the countries that participate in PISA (Programa Internacional de Avaliação de Estudantes). It is one of the conclusions of the study “Ten Questions for Teachers of Mathematics… And How Pisa Can Help Answer”, prepared by the OECD based on the statements of the students themselves.
Initiatives aimed at bringing Brazilian society closer to science and technology carried out in our country play an important role in changing this situation and in training our young people. One of these initiatives has just been launched by the Association of Engineers of the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (AEITA).
This is the Junior Partners Award, which will select ten students from all over the country between the ages of 7 and 14 to visit São José dos Campos, the Brazilian aerospace hub and headquarters of Embraer, the Technological Institute of Aeronautics, the National Institute for Space Research , and other research institutes and technology companies. The costs will be covered by the AEITA. Applications are open until June 30 on the Award website. What are you waiting to tell your daughter, your son, your students?!
