Two young scientists perform a chemistry experiment entitled “ghost from a bottle” for a classroom full of enthusiastic onlookers.
On November 26th, students and teachers from high schools in Belgrade, Nis, Pirot, Vrsac, Sremska Mitrovica, Kikinda, Kragujevac and Leskovac gathered in the Leskovac high school for a science fair organized by A-SMYLE alumni Dusan Bogicevic ’11, Aleksandar Cakic ’10, and Jana Kulic ’11.
The fair started at 11 AM with 30 volunteers, including 11 A-SMYLE alumni, helping to direct visitors to 16 presentations featuring exciting, interactive experiments performed by students and teachers from across the country. Presentations represented multiple scientific and related fields, including Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Ecology, Geography, Psychology, and Mathematics.
The goal of organizing this fair, according to Bogicevic, Cakic and Kulic, was to spark young people’s interest in science and, at the same time, promote cooperation between high schools across the country. “Most students find science uninteresting mainly because of the way the school system presents it,” the organizers explained. “In our high schools, science class has very little to no experiments and projects concerning science. However, there are still some students that enjoy learning about science and are willing to share that knowledge with their classmates.” This science fair was an opportunity for such enthusiastic students and their teachers to help spread their love for science. “All the invited schools came and had appropriate presentations that were gladly visited, and during the whole fair every classroom was full of people,” noted Bogicevic, adding that the overall attendance—approximately 2000 guests—was much higher than expected. In order to accommodate the high level of interest, all of the presentations were repeated several times.
Bogicevic, Cakic and Kulic agree that the event was a success, explaining, “We managed to present science in a fun way, and by doing this we kept everyone’s attention and have changed their opinion of science.” The presenters and volunteers echoed the organizers’ praise for the event and expressed strong interest in participating in similar events in the future.