Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1475004
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 31 JULY 2022 11 SCIENCE Esperimenta Tikka Xjenza... Esplora's way of bringing science to the community ON Saturday 23 July, Birgu's Couvre Porte was decorated with the colours of Esplora as the science festival Esperimen- ta Tikka Xjenza was held with the main aim to bring the im- mersive world of science to the community. This festival was the science centre's latest initi- ative to showcase that science can be entertaining and acces- sible to all. Organised under the auspic- es of the STEM Engagement Working Group, of which Es- plora is chair, and with the sup- port of the Birgu Local Council, the event was free of charge and targeted towards people of all ages. It continued to build upon Esplora's vision which is to cul- tivate a culture of scientific cu- riosity and creativity, achieved by its mission to ignite a passion for questioning, investigation and discovery. The objective of this festival was to highlight that science has a major role in our lives and how it affects us in our day-to-day activities. It also increased the awareness of STEM (Science, Technolo- gy, Engineering, Mathematics) subjects and encouraged the young generation to take up these subjects at school and en- visage a career in one of these areas. The theme of this year's fes- tival was Environmental Sus- tainability for Wellbeing, high- lighting the importance that a healthy environment has on the quality of our lives and our wellbeing. During this evening, the Knights of St John's majestic Couvre Porte was converted in- to a fun-filled scientific hotspot, jam-packed with activities such as science shows, tinkering ses- sion, an animated movie, dance and theatre performances. Vis- itors had the opportunity to converse with various experts in the STEM fields as well as interact with a gorgeous collec- tion of wooden games coming all the way from Barcelona. This was the first event in a projected series of science fes- tivals planned to be held in Cottonera's Three Cities and Kalkara, bringing the need for science to be more accessible to the communities, whilst at the same time, helping to break down barriers and show that with learning through play, science can be understood by everyone. As a matter of fact, part of the festival was also held at Ħaż-Żebbuġ on Sunday 24th July, where Misraħ l-Isptar hosted a number of activities including a recycled wooden educational exhibition. These type of events, organ- ized within the community, are very important because they help people interact with sci- entific subjects whilst simulta- neously encouraging them to ask questions about the world around them. At the same time these festivals serve as an op- portunity for local scientists and entities in the STEM fields to interact and build a relation- ship with local citizens.