"Xperimania - From molecules to materials" is an ambitious educational project which aims to raise awareness among young people of how petrochemistry contributes to the development of modern materials.
Through www.xperimania.net European teachers and students are invited to participate to several activities aiming to promote science education via fun experiments and topics on materials, petrochemistry and their impact on daily life.
XPERIMANIA I (2007-2008)Targeted at students aged between 10 and 20 years , the Xperimania project included three main activities:
- Timeline of everyday objects: students investigate a petrochemistry-based discovery (from PVC to liquid crystal polymer) and illustrate what they have found out about it
- Hands on experiments: as a team, pupils set up an easy and fun experiment and upload laboratory reports on www.xperimania.net
- Online chats with experts on specific topics related to petrochemistry’s contribution to society.
Almost 1000 secondary school students from 18 European countries participated, with 447 submissions. An international team of teachers made a pre-selection of finalists, while an expert panel selected the overall winners. The winning projects were declared interesting and well-structured, with a close connection to students’ day-to-day life.
Three girls have won the first Xperimania competitions on materials and chemistry!
In the Experiment competition Kristiana A. and Detelina N. from Bulgaria won the first prize with their "Polystyrene as a sound isolator" experiment. The first runner-up prize went to Péter H. and Hajna T. from Hungary for their work "Surprise, Investigation and Research in connection with Polyethylene". And two Cypriot girls, Xenia C. and Kaiti C., were awarded the second-runner up prize for their work "Greenhouse experiment".
The winning work in the Timeline competition went to Deborah F. from Malta for her work on Nylon and its use in the textile industry. As a first runner-up the jury selected the entry Bitumen" provided by Matyas M. from Hungary, and the second runner-up prize went to Polish Dawid S. for his work "Petrol additives - antidetoning agents".
In addition, the jury wanted to give two special mentions: Polish Kinga T.’s work on “Bioplastics” was highlighted with the “Special Mention for innovation” and Hungarian Vivien J.’s entry, “Tyre”, was nominated with the “Special Mention for link to daily life”.
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