P.ortati per le Stem (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) are you born or made? Certainly putting your hands “in dough”, among ampoules, robots and microscopes, can help. And this is what is done in the dedicated laboratories of BDC international bilingual school of Milan and Cologno Monzesethanks to the collaboration with IMCD Italy (global market leader in the sale, marketing and distribution of specialty chemicals and ingredients).
A Stem laboratory, from kindergarten to secondary school
The IMCD Stem Lab project, starting on 11 October, takes the form of an academic program that is supported by an experimental laboratory and in this way it brings science, active teaching and business closer together. «All our students will be able to use it: from kindergarten to secondary school, for activities tailored to their age. From chemistry experiments to biology activities, from coding to educational robotics», Explains Irene Piazza Roncoroni, founder and CEO of BDC School concludes. A project, therefore, designed for the (lucky) students of the BDC School. A school which, to use the founder’s happy synthesis, «combines the best of Miur programs with the“ Inquiry Based Learning ”methodology typical of Anglo-Saxon culture and, in particular, of the Cambridge International modus operandi».
Stem workshops open to all and free
But there is also positive news for all the other children and youngsters in the surrounding area, who cannot afford the fees (about 8 thousand euros a year) from the BDC School. THE Stem laboratories open their doors to the public for free events, science parties or Halloween parties (calendar here), to promote a philosophy that even public schools are increasingly trying to make their own (with varying fortunes). “The goal”, continues Roncoroni, “is in fact to create a meeting point that allows high-level training in scientific subjects for all young people in the Milan area (and beyond)”.
The sooner you start, the better
A few examples? For the little ones the workshop will be above all thinkeringlearn to think with your hands through reuse, recycling, manipulation of robotic components and stimulation of all those skills that help in Stem. That is, the ability to concentrate, collaborate, curiosity, self-esteem and a sense of responsibility. Primary school children then really begin to learn by doing. Right now, for example, they are building a rocket: operation for which they are fielding all disciplines, those Stem but also their design skills. Or they can learn to extract the DNA of a banana. In middle school, the exploration of chemistry and physics takes the form of real workshops, for example to learn how to extract color pigments.
Not only Stem. At BDC, Stem transforms into Steam, where the “a” stands for art: because there is no contradiction between technical-scientific disciplines and artistic creativity, on the contrary.
Irene Piazza Roncoroni, founder and CEO of BDC School, with Paolo Madeddu of Imcd
Access of women to scientific training courses
The central mission of the project is then promotion of female access to scientific training courses. A mission that, among the benches of the BDC takes the form of a change of mentality: “Many girls already at the age of six think that there is something that is not for them”, explains Piazza Roncoroni. «We try to break down prejudice by committing ourselves to having many women intervene in our laboratories, including those open to the non-attending public. Successful women whom we also invite to participate actively, by conducting seminars and workshops ».
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