SferaLab - workshops and seminars as part of the Sztum Circular Economy project

The next round of thematic seminars in the form of interactive and educational SferaLab workshops is behind us. The workshops are organised as part of the project Sztum Circular Economy - the answer to today's climate challenges. Participants in the event are children and young people from the City and Municipality of Sztum.

The activities are divided into thematic sectors. The first concerns the product life cycle, the second, entitled 'seeing CO2' is linked to the carbon cycle in nature, and the third is about 'setting a career path for children and young people with an awareness of environmental and climate impact'.

The activities are divided into a theoretical part and a practical part. During the theoretical part, the young participants learn about the principles of the life cycle, what the water footprint is, and how water parameters such as PH and turbidity, are tested. They also learn what microplastics are and how they are produced. They discuss plastics, waste and the meaning of labels on packaging. They learn about the structure and physical and chemical properties of CO2. They learn about the use of this chemical compound, discuss photosynthesis and the carbon footprint.

In the practical part, pupils have the opportunity to experience empirically everything they learned in the theoretical part. In the "product life cycle" part, the young people are first introduced to professional testing equipment, such as a turbidity meter, a laboratory multifunctional instrument, i.e. a conductivity meter and a spectrophotometer. They find out what methods they can use to test waste. They carry out tests on waste in the water extract, such as turbidity, ph, conductivity, total phosphorus and phenolic index. In the practical CO2 part of the workshop, the young people have the opportunity to observe how soda reacts with vinegar, extinguish a candle, identify this chemical in water or learn about the acidic properties of oxide.

The young participants also attend a lecture prepared by scientists from Gdansk University of Technology, during which they learn about the opportunities offered by the university in terms of future careers in environmental protection and engineering.

Two workshop meetings have already taken place this year, with two more to come.