RNP > RNP News > 2004 News

National Week of Science and Technology in Brazil

RNP promotes videoconference in public schools

Interactive virtual chats about science and technology to schools in several States of the country. This is the program of Rede Nacional de Ensino e Pesquisa (RNP) to the Semana Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia (National Week of Science and Technology) from 18th to 24th October.

The presentations will be made by six researchers from universities and education and research institutions tied to the Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia (MCT – Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology).

The project, which has received the name of "VideoconCiência" at schools, has as objective to deliver science to classrooms through Internet videoconference and to show that the use of this technology can be extended to Brazilian public schools.

“When we received the MCT invitation to participate in the Semana Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia, we started thinking in a project to contribute to the program objectives and to show the potential of e-learning through a partnership with the Programa Proinfo (Proinfo Program) of MEC (Ministry of Education and Culture). So, we want to promote the use of applications to remote communication and collaboration among the schools, universities and research centers”, explains RNP General Director, Nelson Simões.

The RNP program includes the participation of six education and research institutions – Agência Espacial Brasileira (AEB) from Brasília; Instituto de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Mamirauá (IDSM) from Amazonas; Laboratório Nacional de Astrofísica (LNA) from Minas Gerais; Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR); Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ); and Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas (CBPF) from Rio de Janeiro – and six public schools – Escola Estadual Miss Browne (SP); Escola Estadual Ensino Fundamental Gonçalves Dias (RS); Centro de Ensino Fundamental 15 de Taguatinga (DF); Escola Estadual Paulo Airton (CE); Escola Municipal Camilo Castelo Branco (RJ); and, Colégio Estadual Ignácio Azevedo do Amaral (RJ).

All labor days of the Semana will have a different chat, with a researcher from one of the involved institutions, to the six schools, which will be simultaneously linked with the researcher by videoconference.

“To put the researchers and students to interact in different schools of the country will be a great challenge. RNP is developing a videoconference service to the academic community. Nevertheless, these chats will be an experiment, since they involve institutions out of our network. But we believe the result will be a rich experience, to the students and to the researchers”, evaluates the RNP’s Marketing and Communication Manager, Marcus Vinicius Mannarino.

Program includes astronomy, physics and environment

The invited to Monday is the first Brazilian astronaut, Lieutenant Colonel Marcos César Pontes (AEB), who will talk about his personal history, since he worked as electrician of Rede Ferroviária Federal SA, in Bauru (SP) to the moment he became an astronaut.

On Tuesday the subject will be the Floresta Amazônica and the biologist Elizabeth Gama will explain the work developed by the Instituto Mamirauá.

To explain what the eclipse is and how the next eclipse of 27th October will happen, RNP programmed, on Wednesday, two chats about astronomy. The first one will be performed by Mariângela de Oliveira-Abans (LNA) and the second one by astronomer and professor Germano Bruno Afonso (UFPR), who studies indigene astronomy.

On Thursday and Friday it is time of physics. During the first day, physicist Alberto Santoro (UERJ) will talk about the mysteries of the universe and how Brasil participates in the physics European laboratory of high energies (CERN). On the following day, physicist Francisco Caruso will present the project he is developing to teach physics through comic strips.

All chats start at 02h00 p.m. and will have 30-minutes duration. After that, the students will have 60 minutes to make questions. A RNP mediator will coordinate the videoconference to allow the participation of the students of all schools.

To the people interested in attending the chats, RNP will transmit the event, in real time, through Internet, with the partnership of the Instituto de Matemática Pura e Aplicada (IMPA), which will film and codify the images. A link to the transmission will be avaiable at RNP’s website.

The "VideoconCiência" project is supported by Macromedia, a technological company of Internet and e-learning, manufacturer of the Breeze Live software, which will be used by the researchers and schools during the event.

[RNP, 22.09.2004]