Awakening Interest in Science and Improving Attitudes toward

Article Cite This: J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX

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Awakening Interest in Science and Improving Attitudes toward Chemistry by Hosting an ACS Chemistry FeSTiVAl in Bogotá, Colombia Manuel F. Molina and José G. Carriazo*

J. Chem. Educ. Downloaded from pubs.acs.org by SPRINGFIELD COLG on 03/29/19. For personal use only.

Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, National University of Colombia. Carrera 30, No. 45-03, Ciudad Universitaria, Bogotá 111321, Colombia

́ ABSTRACT: The American Chemical Society’s Chemistry Festivals, or “Festivales de Quimica,” are community events where chemistry professionals, professors, teachers, and students use hands-on activities to engage the public and demonstrate how chemistry appears in our everyday life. The Chemistry Festival Organizers received training from the ACS, either on an individual basis or as part of larger groups. Several activities chosen by ACS volunteers, which reliably “work well” for engaging visitors during community events, were given. In 2017, the authors held a Chemistry Festival in Bogotá, Colombia for Mole Day (Oct. 23, 2017). Fourteen activities were held, where more than 1000 people participated. Participants reported high opinions about each of the activities and gained a more positive attitude toward chemistry after participating in the event. The Chemistry Festival awakens interest in science and its role in our daily lives and also generates enthusiasm and motivation in scholars, students, and other volunteers. This report argues that funds for public hands-on activities are effective to improve people’s attitudes toward chemistry and suggests that these kinds of programs should be guaranteed and even expanded. KEYWORDS: High School/Introductory Chemistry, General Public, Public Understanding/Outreach, Demonstrations, Hands-On Learning/Manipulatives

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MOTIVATIONAL CONTEXT TO PROMOTE POSITIVE ATTITUDES TOWARD CHEMISTRY The motivation of students is an important element in learning processes that improve the levels of knowledge acquisition.1,2 Furthermore, Smith et al.3 affirm that a student’s motivational experience directs and energizes future academic behavior and attitudes. Previous studies have shown that students’ motivation to science declined during their junior high and middle school years,2 and thus a challenge for teachers is to maintain a greater interest. Motivation to learn is not merely a responsibility of students, but it is also a result of the attitudes, enthusiasm, academic competences, class activities, and the context shown by teachers.4,5 The active learning environment has a positive impact on students’ motivation,4 engaging them in the context and explanations of scientific phenomena. According to the literature, science demonstrations are attractive active learning activities that promote the motivation and achievement of skills (such as comprehension, and the use of concepts, explanations, arguments, models, and facts related © XXXX American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.

to science). When performed in an informal context, they generate excitement for science in the general public.6−8 This is important because such context reduces the anxiety (negative emotions inherent to worry) of students and provides a spontaneous learning environment.8 On the other hand, effective demonstrations in public events strongly aid in the spread of knowledge about chemistry while overcoming its negative image in some non-expert people. Indeed, the dissemination of chemistry has been a difficult task as a consequence of its negative image in the public and the inherent complexity and symbolism proper to this science.9 Thus, demonstrations also play an important role in scientific literacy. Positive attitudes toward chemistry are associated with the high academic outcomes of students in this science,10,11 Received: August 16, 2018 Revised: March 9, 2019

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DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00670 J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX

Journal of Chemical Education

Article

of Colombia). They were senior undergraduate or graduate (M.Sc. or Ph.D.) students. Previously, all the volunteers were involved in a set of discussions on the Fusion Science Theater scheme,6,7 the importance of chemistry demonstrations for informal science learning,6 and the concepts and principles involved in each experiment. Organizers won a Chemistry Festival Grant from the ACS to provide financial support for the event, and the National University of Colombia supplied the placing, logistics, and a gift (a pocket periodic table) for each of the participants. Demonstrations carried out in this festival are listed below:

facilitating the conceptual change and improving the cognitive skills. In general, conceptual changes are linked with other changes, such as new ways to view phenomena, changes in attitudes and values, and new ways of reasoning for solving scientific problems.12 Therefore, positive attitudes in chemistry must be encouraged in order to improve the learning of this discipline. However, negative attitudes toward chemistry are common among high school and college students.13 These attitudes possibly have been built from some informal science learning contexts (television news, Internet, and magazines, etc.) with distorted information about chemistry activities, or perhaps from some formal settings with poor curricular content and methodology. Unfortunately, a sociocultural image related to risk, mystery, pollution, and toxicity has contributed to the negative image of chemistry.9,14,15 Although in some social contexts the public attitudes are much more positive than were expected, a neutral perception on chemistry is worrying. According to a recent report of the Royal Society of Chemistry,16 people in the U.K. were somewhat positive about the impacts of chemistry and believed it to be beneficial to society, but they also expressed neutrality about chemistry, finding it much easier to specify negative attributes and stereotypes. For that reason, it is imperative to harmonize endeavors for outreach to impact the the unfavorable attitudes of children and junior students and improve the public perception toward chemistry. Along these lines, working to counter these negative attitudes has been a common initiative of scholars and scientific organizations.11,17,18 In this sense, the ACS (American Chemical Society) has promoted since 2005 the development of what is called the Chemistry Festival.19 A Chemistry Festival is defined as any event where the public, mostly children, perform hands-on activities using household materials to see how chemistry works in our daily lives. The first Chemistry Festival was held in Puerto Rico in 2005 and gathered about 500 people among volunteers, private institutions, professional associations, students, and teachers. The Chemistry Festival is an event that unites the community around chemical demonstration activities and gives to the public a higher understanding of chemistry and its impact on their lives. Every activity uses very common, low-risk materials, using them in creative ways to surprise the participants.19 The Chemistry Festival has since been spread across several continents and performed in at least 18 countries. In this context, this program is an essential part of the high endeavor carried out by the ACS in the task of changing the unfavorable attitudes of the general public toward chemistry and improving their view on chemistry difficulties, since chemistry is seen as a science that has an intrinsic difficulty.19

Demonstrations

1. Making artificial snow: using sodium polyacrylate.20 2. Where’s the water?: super absorption of water by sodium polyacrylate as detailed below.21 3. Carbon dioxide rocket: a plastic rocket safely launched into the air by using baking soda and dry ice.22,23 4. Blood typing: by means of a kit, blood types identified, including the presence or absence of the Rh factor.24,25 5. Battery construction using food.26 6. Ferrofluids: ferrofluid material and its magnetic properties.27 7. Dry ice bubbles: giant bubbles made with liquid soap and dry ice.28,29 8. Magnetism: magnetic properties of some materials.30 9. Understanding electricity by using a plasma ball.31 10. Poly(ethylene oxide) super duper gel.32,33 11. Understanding Henry’s law through the use of carbon dioxide in soda drinks.34 12. Effects of dry ice on pH: performance of some chemical indicators (pH changes) through the use of dry ice.35 13. Pressure for breakfast: effect of pressure illustrated with boiled eggs and a bottle.36 14. Thermogenerator: illustration of the Peltier cell for generating an electric current.37 Example: Where’s the water?

In the presentation of each demonstration, the Fusion Science Theater scheme was adapted to be used with each Chemistry Festival activity.38 An example of an adapted protocol is shown here: 1. Introduction: The audience is introduced to what materials are needed and what needs to be done for the demonstration. Furthermore, safe handle of the substances and possible risks are explained. In this case, it is revealed that water and sodium polyacrylate are needed. Participants must follow the track inside one of three cups, one of which has the polyacrylate, a variation of the shell game. These cups must be opaque for a successful demonstration. 2. Making a Question or Prediction: After pouring water in the container, the demonstrator asks the audience to predict if water would disappear when the cups are moved. 3. Performing the Activity: Water is added to one of three cups, and then they are moved around in a way that is easy to follow. The demonstrator stops, asking where water is, confirming the audience is right. Then water is poured into a second cup and, finally, into a third. This third cup contains polyacrylate. Most participants indicate where the water is. After that, the demonstrator asks for a volunteer to come in front of the crowd. The

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THE FESTIVAL IN BOGOTÁ , COLOMBIA With the support of the ACS and the National University of Colombia, a (first) Chemistry Festival was planned and carried out in Bogotá, calling it “El Diá del Mol” (“Mole Day” in English), on Oct. 23, 2017. Fourteen different activities were simultaneously held for over 4 h, from 09:00 AM to 1:00 PM, giving 15−45 min for each one. The planning of this Chemistry Festival began nearly a year before, in November 2016, with an invitation made by the ACS to attend a training program in Panama City, Panama. Then, in Bogotá, 20 volunteers (5 teachers and 15 students) presented some demonstrations taught to the organizers in Panama and also activities locally adapted in Bogotá. These 15 students were selected from the Chemistry Department (National University B



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Figure 1. Presentation of activities as magic: (A) The Plasma Ball experiment; (B) Where’s the Water?.

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demonstrator pours the two empty cups over the participant’s head. Finally, when the third cup is flipped over water does not fall out. The audience is amazed and expectation is generated. Forming a Hypothesis: The audience is asked for a possible explanation of what was observed, leading the guess into magic or science. Then, it is emphasized that here magic is an application of science. Modeling the Demonstration. The experiment is carried out with transparent cups, and thus the presence and effect of the absorbent polymer is shown. Explanation. The role of the “superabsorbent” polymer is thoroughly explained, differentiating between absorption and adsorption and describing the concept of polymer and the application of sodium polyacrylate in some disposable diapers. Furthermore, a good explanation about the intermolecular forces (hydrogen bonding) and their importance in both biology and chemistry can be mentioned. Closure and Questions.

Figure 2. Some participants and presenters after demonstration and dialogue.

pocket periodic table card to each, and total attendance was verified by the number of cards given out at the end of the Festival. In total, the participants were of the following groups: • 600 students from eight different public schools in Bogotá, ages 13−18, and • 450 students from the first semester undergraduate courses “Principles of Chemistry” and “Basic Chemistry” attending the National University of Colombia, ages 18−21. • participants from various socio-economic status, a wide ethnographic range within Colombian society, mixed gender (male and female in similar random ratio), and a wide educational spectrum with diversity in intellectual ability.

SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS Although no hazardous materials or procedures were used in the Chemistry Festival, some recommendations were taken into account. In general, during the demonstrations, the audience was kept at 1 m from the table of experiments, and all of the first row participants had to wear safety goggles. However, demonstrations such as 1 or 2 with sodium polyacrylate allowed the audience to interact closely with these products. The presenters had to wear safety goggles and disposable nitrile gloves for all demonstrations, but for experiments 3, 7, and 12, they wore cryogenic gloves. For the blood test, a synthetic kit was used to perform a simulated experiment.24 This way, nobody was exposed to risk. All waste was properly disposed of according to environmental and health safety protocols. In addition, the five suggestions to ask about safety in chemical demonstrations were considered.39

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Participants’ Reception of the Demonstrations

To evaluate the quality of demonstrations, a questionnaire was given to each participant, in which they would score from 1 to 5 valuing the demonstration or activity (5 for the best appreciation and 1 for the least). The survey was completely answered by 138 participants and deposited in a collecting box. Table 1 shows the score and ranking for each demonstration. The demonstrations with sodium polyacrylate (demonstrations 1 and 2 in Table 1) received the highest degree of appreciation, perhaps due to the following reasons: • The relationship that exists between this polymer and diapers, so the link generates a more surprising effect.

RESULTS OF THE FESTIVAL

Participation

Figures 1 and 2 illustrate some moments of the activities during the Chemistry Festival. Through all of the activities, high levels of enthusiasm and motivation were qualitatively observed among the participants. The 2017 Bogotá Chemistry Festival was attended by approximately 1050 students. They were counted by giving a C



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• The mystery feeling that was hinted at for each demonstration, more in the case of the contact with the snow.

Table 1. Comparative Questionnaire Responses to the Demonstrations Demonstration 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Making artificial snow Where’s the water? CO2 rocket Blood typing Battery construction Ferrofluids Dry ice bubbles Magnetism Plasma ball Poly(ethylene oxide) gel Henry’s law using CO2 Dry ice indicators Pressure for breakfast Thermogenerator

Average Scorea,b

The demonstration of the rocket, item 3, attracted attention because of the rocket explosion when climbing, and the variables considered for making it attractive (warm water, AlkaSeltzer, vinegar, and dry ice). This demonstration allowed predictions and explanations to be raised. According to a discussion with the presenters after the Festival, some general factors may have influenced the scores of the demonstrations. The performance (communicative and persuasive abilities, knowledge, and explanations) of the presenters, and the use of substances and materials producing attractive effects (for example gel formation, bubbles, gases, color changes, and small and inoffensive explosions) are worth mentioning among the aspects inducing good feelings of appreciation.

4.7 4.5 4.4 4.3 4.3 4.3 4.3 4.2 4.1 4.1 3.9 3.9 3.8 3.7

Attitudes toward Chemistry

a

The scores have a range of 1−5, with 5 being the best and 1 the least. b N = 138.

Before the visit to the National University of Colombia, 600 school students taught by 13 teachers completed a survey (at the schools) about their attitudes toward chemistry. The teachers did not answer the survey. This questionnaire was given only to the same school students again after the Chemistry Festival. A number of 366 school participants

• The surprising effect that was obtained when it was placed in contact with water.

Figure 3. Responses to the survey on attitudes toward chemistry. Survey results “before” the Chemistry Festival are labeled as “B” questions, and survey results “after” the Chemistry Festival are labeled as “A” questions. A sample of 366 complete questionnaires was assessed in a population of 600 school students. D



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shift neutral attitudes toward chemistry to a favorable zone. Neutral perception of the students is related to the low contact or limited experiences with chemistry. About questions 4 and 5, the opinions of students also moved to a more positive zone after the festival (Figure 3). However, such shift appeared to be more important for question 5 (related to the interest on the profession of a chemist) than for question 4. From question 5, mainly the neutral (“I’m not sure” responses) and positive (“agree” responses) opinions were displaced by a strongly positive perception. The view on the profession of a chemist improved, perhaps because the experiment presenters at the festival were professionals or chemistry students, who showed attraction to the activities. This improvement is relevant, since it has been previously found that boys and girls do not want a career in chemistry or to study chemistry at a deeper level.11,40 On the other hand, items 4 and 6 are closely related since they involve views on the difficulty of learning chemistry. In accordance with this, a similar tendency was observed from the survey results (Figure 3), confirming a slight increase (after the Chemistry Festival) in both questions toward a favorable perception among students. Responses to question 6 (the ease of understanding chemistry concepts) changed from 69.9% (25.1% of “totally agree” plus 44.8% of “agree”) of favorable perception to 77% (30.6% of “totally agree” plus 46.4% of “agree”). According to Molina and co-workers,11 in previous works, item 6 has indicated an unfavorable perception among university students who have already spent time in a General Chemistry course. Therefore, the increase observed here is very acceptable for a population that barely had contact with chemistry. The difficulties in learning chemistry are widely recognized in the literature, resulting from some factors such as little ability of students to establish appropriate association among macroscopic, microscopic, and symbolic worlds41 and the poor contextualization of the conceptual frameworks in everyday phenomena.42 Undoubtedly, the Chemistry Festival brings some contribution to overcome the perception of students about chemistry difficulties. Finally, item 4 considers one of the problems of interest in chemical education: the chemistry language. This item also had an influence which led to reviewing the “script” of the demonstration presenters. However, it is important to point out that the difficulty of chemical language is an ingrained perception in people, because this difficulty is true, involving the use and comprehension of models, symbols, formulas, nomenclature, and chemical equations at submicroscopic and macroscopic levels.42 It is difficult to change this perception in the public only by some demonstrations in the festival, but it is also necessary to think about improving (simplifying) the language in order to make it more understandable for the public. The language problem in chemistry is complex and should be carefully treated. Although chemistry language may be considered an obstacle to the learning process, good language allows verbalizing and discussing chemical problems, helping interactions remain in the long term memory,41 and enhancing the comprehension of phenomena. Recent works indicate that using real contexts, based on everyday life, motivates and favors the learning of specialized chemistry vocabulary among the students.42,43 An interesting improvement on the attitudes can be inferred from all the tendencies obtained by the attitude surveys (Figure 3). These results clearly hold the importance of the Chemistry Festivals as a strategy of informal learning with high

completely answered the survey, both before and after the visit. Thus, this number of surveys was processed. The six questions asked were previously studied and validated in a larger test reported by Molina and co-workers,11 in which a Likert-type scale was used, with these response options: Totally agree; Agree; I’m not sure (Indecision); Disagree; Totally disagree. The distribution of responses, before and after the Chemistry Festival, is shown in Figure 3; the six survey statements (items) appear below: 1. Chemistry serves to know many aspects of our daily life. 2. The development of chemistry has improved our quality of life. 3. The progress of the country is related to chemical industrialization. 4. The language of chemistry and its symbols are easy to understand. 5. The profession of chemistry is very interesting. 6. I easily understand chemistry concepts. In general, more positive attitudes after the Chemistry Festival can be inferred from Figure 3. From items 1 and 2, a more favorable opinion on the usefulness of chemistry and its relation with everyday life is displayed. For example, the “totally agree” responses to item 1 changed from 38.5% (141/ 366 students) before the festival to 59.6% (218/366 students) after the festival, and the “totally agree” responses to item 2 changed from 27.3% (100/366 students) to 45.9% (168/366 students). Both items 1 and 2 are correlated with the fact that chemistry affects our lives in an important way.40 Another important change is observed on the responses to item 3, related to the association among society (“our country”), chemistry, and industry. Previous to the Chemistry Festival, a more negative attitude can be deduced from this item, with the highest levels of disapproval (12.6% of “disagree” and 8.7 of “totally disagree”) and neutrality (29%) compared to only 21.9% of strongly positive response (“totally agree”) and 27.9% of positive opinions (“agree” responses). After the festival, strongly positive and positive attitudes are observed from “totally agree” and “agree” responses, which yielded a total value of 77% approval. In this way, the neutrality and disapproval opinions were strongly reduced. According to these results, the Chemistry Festival improved the image of chemistry among the students regarding its relationships with everyday phenomena, its impact on our life, and its industrial applications. This gives a much more favorable perception of chemistry in dimensions beyond the classroom. The outcomes obtained from items 1 to 3 confirm the strong relationship between contextualized learning and positive attitudes toward chemistry. Furthermore, these changes in the opinions of students, before and after the Chemistry Festival, can be understood by taking into account the recent report of the Royal Society of Chemistry16 on public attitudes toward chemistry in the U.K. According to this report, people respond most to everyday, tangible, and familiar examples, making a positive emotional connection to real life implications and outcomes of chemistry.16 On the other hand, an important feature in the changes observed on the responses of questions 1−3 is the significant shift from neutral opinions (“I’m not sure”) to positive or strongly positive perceptions. This result is very interesting, because the Royal Society of Chemistry’s report recommends focusing on the neutrality expressed by so many people, which was previously detected in the U.K. public.16 Thus, the Chemistry Festival is a good scenario to E



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(4) Cicuto, C. A. T.; Torres, B. B. Implementing an Active Learning Environment To Influence Students’ Motivation in Biochemistry. J. Chem. Educ. 2016, 93 (6), 1020−1026. (5) Carriazo, J. G.; Saavedra, M. J.; Molina, M. F. Where the Teaching of Materials Science Should Be Directed to? Educ. Quim. 2017, 28, 107−115. (6) Kerby, H. W.; Dekorver, B. K.; Cantor, J.; Weiland, M. J.; Babiarz, C. L. Demonstration Show That Promotes and Assesses Conceptual Understanding Using the Structure of Drama. J. Chem. Educ. 2016, 93 (4), 613−618. (7) DeKorver, B. K.; Choi, M.; Towns, M. Exploration of a Method To Assess Children’s Understandings of a Phenomenon after Viewing a Demonstration Show. J. Chem. Educ. 2017, 94 (2), 149−156. (8) National Research Council, Committee on Learning Science in Informal Environments. Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits; Bell, P., Lewenstein, B., Shouse, A. W., Feder, M. A., Eds.; National Academies Press: Washington, DC, USA, 2009. (9) Morais, C. Storytelling with Chemistry and Related Hands-On Activities: Informal Learning Experiences to Prevent “Chemophobia” and Promote Young Children’s Scientific Literacy. J. Chem. Educ. 2015, 92 (1), 58−65. (10) Cheung, D. Students’ Attitudes toward Chemistry Lessons: The Interaction Effect between Grade Level and Gender. Res. Sci. Educ. 2009, 39, 75−91. (11) Molina, M. F.; Carriazo, J. G.; Farias, D. M. Students’ Attitudes toward Chemistry in Different Undergraduate Programs in Colombia. Quim. Nova 2011, 34 (9), 1672−1677. (12) Lee, C.-Q.; She, H.-C. Facilitating Students’ Conceptual Change and Scientific Reasoning Involving the Unit of Combustion. Res. Sci. Educ. 2010, 40, 479−504. (13) Xu, X.; Lewis, J. E. Refinement of a Chemistry Attitude Measure for College Students. J. Chem. Educ. 2011, 88 (5), 561−568. (14) Schummer, J.; Spector, T. I. The Visual Image of Chemistry. Perspectives from the History of Art and Science. Int. J. Philos. Chem. 2007, 13 (1), 3−41. (15) Bracher, P. J.; Gray, H. B. Chemists: Public Outreach Is an Essential Investment of Time, Not a Waste of It. In Vision 2025: How To Succeed in the Global Chemistry Enterprise; Cheng, H. N., Shah, S., Wu, M. L., Eds.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, USA, 2014; pp 37−50, DOI: 10.1021/bk-20141157.ch005. (16) Fu, E.; Fitzpatrick, A.; Connors, C.; Clay, C.; Toombs, B.; Busby, A.; O’Driscoll, C. Public Attitudes to Chemistry; TNS BMRB Research Report for Royal Society of Chemistry: London, U.K., 2015. (17) Putti, A. High School Students’ Attitudes and Beliefs on Using the Science Writing Heuristic in an Advanced Placement Chemistry Class. J. Chem. Educ. 2011, 88 (4), 516−521. (18) Walczak, D.; Walczak, M. Do Student Attitudes toward Science Change during a General Education Chemistry Course? J. Chem. Educ. 2009, 86 (8), 985−991. (19) ACS International Chemistry Festival; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, USA, https://www.acs.org/content/acs/ en/global/international/regional/eventsglobal/festivaldequimica.html (accessed March 2019). (20) Lutz, D. Hollywood’s Special EffectsHow Did They Do That? ChemMatters 2009, No. December, 5−8. (21) Mukerjee, M. Superabsorbers. Sci. Am. 2000, 283 (6), 100− 101. (22) Educational Innovations. Rocket Film Canisters; https://www. teachersource.com/product/rocket-film-canisters/air-pressure (accessed March 2019). (23) NASA. 3-2-1 POP!. Rockets: A Teacher’s Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology; https://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/3-21_Pop!.pdf (accessed March 2019). (24) Educational Innovations. Understanding Blood Type Interactions through Simulated Blood; https://www.teachersource.com/product/ understanding-blood-interactions/biology-life-science (accessed Mar 2019).

capacity to attract people’s attention and change the attitudes of the public toward chemistry. The more positive attitudes toward chemistry obtained after the festival confirm that this program, created and supported by the ACS, is a strongly attractive way to struggle against unfavorable attitudes toward chemistry in the world.

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CONCLUSIONS The Chemistry Festival was welcomed with enthusiasm. Participants stated their appreciation and pleasure by attending and highlighted the impact of the activities. The public was entertained using science and could clearly observe simple chemistry processes beyond the typical context of a classroom. The accomplishment of this first festival in Bogotá (Colombia) left us with enormous motivation to use our knowledge of chemistry teaching, academic supplies, and logistical experience to carry out more similar events. Thus, we achieved one of the main objectives of this event: to recognize the emphasis of chemistry in our daily life across an even wider community. Colombia, similar to other countries, has students with negative and neutral attitudes toward chemistry, indicating that it is necessary to repeat this event, multiplying and disseminating these attractive activities. Science demonstrations were successfully used as central hands-on activities to motivate school students, university first-semester students, and other people from the public in chemistry topics. The results showed interesting changes of attitudes toward chemistry, clearly indicating that the Chemistry Festival is a good strategy to attract young people in the chemistry field, engaging new students and generating much more positive perceptions on chemistry issues. However, it is worth mentioning that the perception of conceptual difficulty, including the language of chemistry, remains as one of the hardest aspects to overcome.

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AUTHOR INFORMATION

Corresponding Author

*E-mail: [email protected]. ORCID

José G. Carriazo: 0000-0002-1740-5552 Notes

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank the ACS for the financial and logistical support to the festival; the Faculty of Science and the Department of Chemistry of the National University of Colombia for support; students and teachers who participated as volunteers in the demonstrations.

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Awakening Interest in Science and Improving Attitudes toward

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