Scientific Culture & Equality of Opportunity
Science clubs in a priority education area in the Ile-de-France region
Opened in 2009 by Savoir Apprendre, the Exploradôme is an interactive science museum located in a low-income neighborhood of Vitry-sur-Seine. The museum's goal is to improve access to scientific and technical culture, with ambitious targets in terms of equal opportunities and social cohesion.
Expanding the impact of the Exploradôme
Savoir Apprendre benefited from the Air Liquide Foundation’s assistance for launching its Exploraclubs project, which consists in developing and offering free after-school activities. These extracurricular Exploraclubs provide fun and educational activities for 150 young people aged 8 to 16 who live in low-income neighborhoods in Vitry-sur-Seine. Examples of activities include:
- The 'budding roboticists' club (ages 8 to 10): participants build robots using recycled materials
- The 'expert roboticists' club (ages 10 to 14): participants tackle the construction of more complex robots in groups of two or three, including piston robots, giant robots, tank robots and spy robots
Exploradôme
Educational activities designed for young people who have difficulties
Each club is made up of groups of no more than 10 or 12 individuals in order to allow everyone to play a part, promote team spirit and create close ties with the instructor...all of which are essential to successful technical and scientific learning.
The Air Liquide Foundation's involvement
The support from the Air Liquide Foundation made it possible to buy the equipment needed for the museum's workshops, in particular a 3D printer and computers.