Congress for scientific teachers in Flanders

Last Saturday, The International Polar Foundation (IPF) coordinated the participation of the BE-POLES cluster at the "Congres voor leraars Wetenschappen" at the VUB in Brussels. During 2 hours BE-POLES partners from three universities, Prof. Dr Louis Beyens (Universiteir Antwerpen, Polar ecology, limnology and paleobiology), Dr David Van Rooij (Universiteit Gent, Renard Centre of Marine Geology) and Prof. Dr Frank Dehairs (Vrije Universitet Brussel, Analytical and Environmental Chemistry), presented their research and activities to a working group of teachers interested in the science of the poles.

Nearly 700 teachers took part in the congress and enthusiastically visited our stand, where they received information about the existence and aims of the BE-POLES cluster and detailed explanation about the competitions Pole-Position and Class@poles. An additional quiz "Are you ready to face the poles?" tested the knowledge of Flemish teachers about the poles.

The many positive reactions proved that this event was very fruitful for communication about polar science in Belgium. Teachers were particularly interested in how to take part to the secondary school competitions about the poles.