On the 9th of June, the CNRS team took part to the 2023 edition of Kids’ University, held at the European School of Chemistry, Polymers and Material Sciences (ECPM), in the Cronenbourg campus of the CNRS. Organised by the Jardin des Sciences of the University of Strasbourg, the event aims to open school children’s eyes to science through fun and educational workshops.

Our team, composed of 2 CHAIR ESRs (Daniel Carter and Pascal Hauk), the Project Manager (Irene Arrata), one permanent researcher from the laboratory (Sabine Choppin) and 2 other PhD students from the local team (Lucas Marchal and Amandine Luc), prepared one of the 7 workshops organised for the day. After introducing key concepts of chemistry – including safety! – we requested the students help to solve the mystery of an abandoned reaction. How could we find out what was in there? Not with a microscope!

This interactive session was the opportunity to show the students the tools and techniques used on a daily basis by chemists, but also to debunk common myths and show that chemistry isn’t necessarily colourful or does not have to be explosive (quite the opposite).

In total, we presented the workshop to 3 groups of 13 year old students (4eme in the French system, equivalent to 8th grade), a total of 45 students. This was a very enriching experience for our team but also for the students, from whom we received very positive feedback.