Volume 9Issue 22026
Articles
Practice Insights
Recycling detectives: an intergenerational play experience at Universum, the Science Museum
Recycling detectives is an intergenerational educational activity offered by the children’s area at Universum, the Science Museum of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), designed to teach children and their families about the recycling process for Tetra Pak® containers. This text describes the pedagogical criteria that guided its design and presents the results of a formative evaluation based on direct observation to analyze interactions, emotions, and knowledge gained during the experience. The findings show that play, as a legitimate form of learning, facilitates intergenerational cooperation, stimulates emotions, and promotes environmental thinking from an early age.
Recess: Science Workshops. A Science Communication Experience with Populations in Vulnerable Situations at a Public University
Recess: Science Workshops is a science communication program at a public university in Mexico that has organized, since 2023, in-person interdisciplinary workshops for girls, boys, and adolescents in situations of social vulnerability, residing in or attending group homes and special care centers in the metropolitan area of Xalapa, particularly in Banderilla, Coatepec, and Xalapa. Over four cycles (2023–2026), more than thirty university departments, science communication collectives, and external institutions collaborated to offer educational experiences in the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, and the arts, adapted to diverse populations, including people with multiple disabilities. This article describes the program's design, implementation, and lessons learned from a reflective-practice perspective, identifying methodological, logistical, and institutional challenges, as well as lessons that may guide similar initiatives. It argues that science communication grounded in a human rights approach requires flexible methodologies, solid institutional alliances, sustained accompaniment, and a culture of critical evaluation.