Visits at ICMAB
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ICMAB researchers visit schools with real materials samples, opening a conversation with students about future materials, scientific vocations and everyday research.
What properties will future materials have that today’s materials do not? How will they be made, and for what purpose?
Researchers from ICMAB-CSIC visit educational centres with samples from their laboratories. The activity is an open talk and debate rather than a fixed presentation: real materials stimulate dialogue and participation among students, teachers and researchers. Audiovisual material may also complement the conversation.
The discussion introduces materials science, its applications in everyday life and the daily reality of research—including whether research is a profession, a passion or both.
Materials science and research careers
Talk and debate
An interactive talk and debate held during school hours.
Open and non-directed
There is no fixed script. Laboratory samples are used to stimulate dialogue and participation, with optional audiovisual support.
Choose and explore
Materials science in energy, electronics, health, sustainability and related fields.
Meet the ICMAB researchers participating in the programme. Use the unit filters to explore the dynamic directory.
Plan the visit with the participating researcher and adapt the session to the educational centre and its students.
Who can participate
3rd and 4th year of ESO, and 1st and 2nd year of Bachillerato.
Before the visit
Contact the participating ICMAB researcher in advance to prepare the activity.
Approximately one hour
The activity takes place during school hours.
At the school
For educational centres near Bellaterra, including Barcelona and the surrounding area upon request.
Agreed in advance
The schedule is agreed between the school and the participating researchers.
ICMAB-CSIC
Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (CSIC).
Images from previous “A researcher in your classroom” sessions.
Latest stories and activities associated with the programme.
AWARD
Coordinator
Anna Drou Roget
Communication & Outreach
Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona
To take part in “A researcher in your classroom”, email Anna Drou at
41.5020,2.1102
An audiovisual ICMAB outreach project presenting remarkable materials and showing how they are made in the laboratory.
YouMaker showcases some of ICMAB’s most characteristic and surprising materials and reveals the laboratory processes used to make them.
The project produced a series of ten materials science videos. Each episode brings together one ICMAB researcher and one external science communicator working in a different area or medium. An introductory video presents the series and invites audiences to discover how science is made at ICMAB.
YouMaker was developed with organisations that contributed editorial reach, project management and audiovisual production. The project was supported through the collaboration of FECYT – Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and the ICMAB Severo Ochoa Excellence project.
Articles and distribution
Hosted the videos within science outreach articles to increase their impact and reach.
Project management
Supported the science outreach project management.
Video production
Supported the production of the YouMaker videos.
Funding collaboration
Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología – Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.
Institutional collaboration
Contributed to the YouMaker project at ICMAB.
Each episode pairs an ICMAB researcher with a science communication professional who brings a distinct voice, audience and media perspective.
aka SizeMatters
aka S de Stendhal
aka DNAndrea
Anna May Masnou presented “YouMaker: this is how we make science” at the VI Annual Nanodivulgation Meeting, held in Sevilla on 4 November 2021. The event was organised by the Institute of Materials Science of Sevilla (ICMS) at the Scientific Research Center Isla De La Cartuja (CIC Cartuja).
The project was also presented at CosmoCaixa Barcelona during the European Researchers’ Night, where visitors were asked what they expected from materials science and how it could shape the future.
Finally, Lydia Gallego, from the CSIC Delegation in Catalunya, presented the project at the CSIC Science Culture Meeting in Madrid on 13–14 June 2022.
Start with the introductory film, then explore the ten episodes. The original Catalan and Spanish article links are preserved for every science chapter.
The introductory film presents YouMaker and how science is made at ICMAB.
Watch the introductory film and all ten materials science episodes in the complete YouMaker playlist.
YouMaker was produced by ICMAB with the collaboration of the Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología (FECYT) – Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.
The energy of the future: from the lab to the classroom.
An ICMAB science outreach project that connects energy research with primary and secondary school students.
LabEnClass brings ICMAB research in energy from the laboratory to primary and secondary classrooms through engaging experiments designed specifically for students.
The project connects laboratory science and experimentation with young people. It presents science as something alive and continuously progressing—and as a tool for the advancement and improvement of society.
LabEnClass was prepared in collaboration with Funbrain and ICMAB researcher Mariano Campoy-Quiles. In 2019, the project received an FGCSIC “Cuenta la Ciencia” grant.
The collaboration transformed current energy research into classroom experiments designed to bring research closer to school students.
Six themes connect materials science with the energy challenges and technologies explored in the classroom.
The availability of materials and the importance of using resources sustainably.
How sunlight can be captured and used as an energy source.
New biodegradable and organic materials for energy applications.
The properties of light and the use of photonic crystals to manipulate it.
Flexible, semi-transparent and colourful photovoltaic technologies.
Emerging technologies that convert heat into electricity.
Download the three original LabEnClass educational resources. The document titles remain in Catalan, matching the source files.
PDF DOWNLOAD
Student edition of the innovative materials teaching unit.
PDF DOWNLOAD
Teacher edition of the innovative materials teaching unit.
PDF DOWNLOAD
Information about the innovative materials workshop.
Funbrain is a science outreach company that has brought science into schools since 2004. It develops and delivers projects for children and young people aged 4 to 16, promoting science and positive values in an accessible, engaging and enjoyable way.
Its collaborators include research centres, schools, town councils and foundations. Its mission is to build an “Educated Society” in which schools, the public sector and companies work together to promote and disseminate knowledge inside and outside the classroom.
The LabEnClass project received the FGCSIC “Cuenta la Ciencia” grant in 2019, and its teaching materials remain available on this page.
If you are a school teacher interested in LabEnClass, please contact us at
ICMAB researchers visit schools with real materials samples, opening a conversation with students about future materials, scientific vocations and everyday research.
What properties will future materials have that today’s materials do not? How will they be made, and for what purpose?
Researchers from ICMAB-CSIC visit educational centres with samples from their laboratories. The activity is an open talk and debate rather than a fixed presentation: real materials stimulate dialogue and participation among students, teachers and researchers. Audiovisual material may also complement the conversation.
The discussion introduces materials science, its applications in everyday life and the daily reality of research—including whether research is a profession, a passion or both.
Materials science and research careers
Talk and debate
An interactive talk and debate held during school hours.
Open and non-directed
There is no fixed script. Laboratory samples are used to stimulate dialogue and participation, with optional audiovisual support.
Choose and explore
Materials science in energy, electronics, health, sustainability and related fields.
Meet the ICMAB researchers participating in the programme. Use the unit filters to explore the dynamic directory.
Plan the visit with the participating researcher and adapt the session to the educational centre and its students.
Who can participate
3rd and 4th year of ESO, and 1st and 2nd year of Bachillerato.
Before the visit
Contact the participating ICMAB researcher in advance to prepare the activity.
Approximately one hour
The activity takes place during school hours.
At the school
For educational centres near Bellaterra, including Barcelona and the surrounding area upon request.
Agreed in advance
The schedule is agreed between the school and the participating researchers.
ICMAB-CSIC
Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (CSIC).
Images from previous “A researcher in your classroom” sessions.
Latest stories and activities associated with the programme.
AWARD
Coordinator
Anna Drou Roget
Communication & Outreach
Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona
To take part in “A researcher in your classroom”, email Anna Drou at
41.5020,2.1102
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