"Open Laboratory for Interactivty: Education and Outreach in Brazil" Gustavo Rojas - Federal University of São Carlos, Brazil 7 February 2012: 16:30

1. The
Open
Laboratory
For Interactivity
Education and
Outreach in Brazil
Gustavo Rojas
Federal University of São Carlos

2. About Federal University of São Carlos
UFSCar is a public University in São Carlos, 240 km NW of São Paulo.
It is among the top 10 Federal universities in the country.
Its three campuses house 60 courses and 15000 students.

3. The
Open
Laboratory
For Interactivity
• The Open Laboratory for Interactivity (Labi) was founded in 2007 in Federal
University of São Carlos, Brazil. It aims at developing new science education
and outreach methodologies, with inputs from different knowledge areas,
uniting scientists, science communicators and artists.
• The projects developed so far have focused in 4 main areas:
• Teacher training courses
• Media products (Radio, TV)
• Internet products (science blog, science e-magazine)
• Interactive exhibits

4. Teacher Training at UFSCar
Regional Astronomy Meetings (EREA)
Nationwide workshops for teachers, mainly in
small towns and regions where there are no
Universities/ Observatories / Planetariums.
Coordinated at Rio de Janeiro and São Carlos.
Since Sep/2009: 24 workshops, 3500
teachers trained in 9 states.

5. A Workshop Model
A Multidisciplinary Approach for Astronomy Teaching
Summer Course:
10 daily meetings in January (school summer vacations) – 30 hours total
1st week: Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics concepts
2nd week: Communication skills workshop
Summary of Activities:
- Observing session using amateur
telescopes
- Visit to a professional pbservatory
- Blog and Webvideo workshops
- Live Action Role Playing Game
“Chaos in the Universe”

6. The Workshop: Astronomy
We stress the multidisciplinary relations of astronomy, and how to integrate
Astronomy with other school subjects.
Gnomon and Sundial Visit to USP Observatory
(armillary sphere)
Due to time limitations, only a few hands-on activities were performed
At the end of Astronomy week, a topic is chosen to be explored on the blog
they were about to publish during Communication Skills week.
Students were advised to look for additional material on Web:
UNAWE, GTTP, Stellarium, Celestia, NASA, etc

7. The Workshop: Communication Skills
Multiliteracies approach: To be able to select content about a specific theme
(Astronomy in this particular experience) and shape that content in order to share it
with a wider community, using different languages.
Each day, one different type of activity was held
Day One: Blog Workshop where students created a free-hosted blog to share their
course experiences and publish the Astronomy task given the week before.
Day Two: WebVideo Workshop where students learned classical narrative structures
and professional screenplay techniques.
Day Three: Role Playing Game day!
Day Four: WebVideo Workshop to cut and edit RPG video.
Day Five: Blog Workshop to publish RPG webvideo and overall course impressions.
This workshop model can be adapted to any subject!

8. The Workshop: RPG
“Chaos In Universe”: Live Action Role Playing Game
Teams: Planets and Scientists. A third team was in
charge of filming and photographing the game.
Plot: Venus is hosting a party at Pantheon, when
Mercury brings alarming news: an explosion in Rome
skies. The Gods are dubious about who is responsible
for this event.
Meanwhile, mankind´s greatest minds discuss their
many theories about the Universe. Suddenly, a tear in
spacetime opens and Mercury ask for help to solve the
puzzle in Rome.
The Gods and Scientists then join and try to figure out
what happenned. The game is mediated by “Ex
Machina” who interrupts whenever things get tricky!

9. The Workshop: RPG
Preparation – Days before the RPG, participants received instructions for the game.
They were asked to choose one character and begin thinking about it
Bio
Role in Game
Game Rules Character Sheet

10. The Workshop: RPG
Gameday – Held at UFSCar Theatre Hall (inspiring!)
A warm-up session conducted by an actress helped
participants to “get into the character”
Each character was introduced at the start of the game.
A short video produced for the character was played,
projected directly over the players´ clothes which
served as a screen.
The scenery itself was also a projection of astronomical
images on the big screen.
After introductions, the 2 groups split and played the
first part of the game, then joined for the final part.
After conclusion, a debate was held to hear
impressions, suggestions, and discuss how teachers
could play the game in their own schools.

11. Radio: Paideia

13. 90

16. Internet: Click Ciência (e-magazine)
www. c lic kc ie nc ia . ufsc a r. b r

17. Interactive Exhibits
SCALES (2008-9) LAbI’s first exhibit
consisted in a series of projections portraying
the different scales in the universe, from the very small to the very large.
Movies could be controlled by the interactor by using flashlights.
A Modern Time (2009-10)
This installation focused on
experiments involving Time and its
different meanings, from
chronological and psychological time
to physical spacetime.

18. Interactive Exhibits: Memoirs of a Carbon (2011-12)
Narrative about a carbon atom, from the interior
of a massive star to the Earth’s atmosphere.
Participants can interact with the narrative using
Kinect controls
Parallel exhibits: Meteorites and Fossils

19. Thank you! – contact: grojas@ufscar.br
Special Acknowledgments to LAbI Team
Prof. Dr. Adilson J. A. de Oliveira – Coordinator
MSc. Mariana Pezzo – Executive coordenator
MSc. Tarcio Minto Fabricio– Journalism
Dr. Luiz Diniz - Researcher
Mario Righetti – Producer
Leonardo Dalla Costa – Electronics
@ceudasemana
@clickciencia
Find out more at www.labi.ufscar.br