Sunday, 22nd November 2009
From 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Botanical Garden of the Universitat de València, Quart 80 – Valencia.The entrance to all activities is for free.

The Festival of Science at the Botanical Garden proposes a sailing trip to learn about Darwin’s discoveries.

Throughout this Sunday morning, there will be various activities and workshops aimed for children.

The vice-principal for Research, Esteban Morcillo, will present the ‘Leer sin fronteras’ award to the student Leticia Carrión, a 4th year ESO student at the Cultural Institution of Godella, Domus.

The Festival of Science of the Universitat de València this year will focus its didactic and playful activities on the figure of the English naturalist Charles Darwin. The Botanical Garden will host this crowded event next Sunday, held more than a decade ago. This festival is part of the programme of the European Week of Science, promoted by the Chair for Scientific Dissemination and that, with all kinds of proposals, extends from the beginning of November to the end of December.

The proposal of the Education Unit of the Botanical Garden is to make a sailboat trip around the world, like the one Darwin did at the age of 22, when he embarked on a boat the Beagle as a naturalist adviser of the discovery expedition of the British Crown. Thus, in a fun and entertaining way, it is intended to encourage children and young people to approach science. Children can participate in various types of activities and workshops of corals, carnivorous plants, they will put on a mask of Darwin and enjoy a storytelling about biodiversity.

During 2009, the bicentenary of the birth of Darwin (1098-1882) and the 150th anniversary of the publication of the origin of the species are commemorated. For this reason, the Universitat dedicates the Festival of Science to the approach the path of the father of the theory of evolution. Moreover, the Botanical Garden has two magnificent spaces to get to know plants that greatly aroused Darwin’s curiosity, the greenhouses of orchids and carnivorous plants, where descriptions of the observations that the English naturalist made will be placed.

In addition to the various proposals, at 12:30 p.m., the vice-principal for Research and Scientific Politicy of the Universitat de València, Esteban Morcillo, will deliver at the shade structure of the Botanical Garden the ‘Leer sin fronteras’ award, organised by the Chair for Scientific Dissemination, intended for secondary education and high school students. Leticia Carrión Higueras, student of 4th year of ESO at the Cultural Institution of Godella, Domus, has won the award with  a work about the book “Mariners que solquen el cel” by Vicent J. Martínez.