Esprits Curieux

By Chunlong Chen & Elina Zueva

Abstract

How to explain science to young children? By publishing books for two-to-six-year-old kids on scientific topics, the Actine Association, created by Olga Markova, aims to make science approachable to anyone. The project is called Esprits Curieux. The association is also involved in facilitating workshops for children and curating exhibitions for the general public on biological processes. During their lecture, Chunlong Chen and Elina Zueva share the stage to present the two books they each have written. Chen’s book is about the role of platelets in the blood while Zueva’s book tells the story of the relationship between the genome and transposons. They comment on their approach to storytelling for children by explaining their choice of topic, telling their story and showing the illustrations of each book.

Summary

00:00:10 – Introduction

00:01:00 – 1. Esprits Curieux
00:01:03 – 1.1. Historical background of the project
00:03:00 – 1.2. Creating scientific books for children
00:04:15 – 1.3. Publishing scientific books for children

00:05:30 – 2. The Actine Association
00:05:40 – 2.1. Creating the Actine Association
00:06:25 – 2.2. Workshops for kids
00:07:10 – 2.3. Exhibitions for the general public
00:08:15 – 2.4. Publishing new books for children

00:08:35 – 3. The Super Platelets
00:08:40 – 3.1. Presentation of the story
00:12:50 – 3.2. Blood explained to children
00:14:06 – 3.3. Acknowledgements

00:15:55 – 4. Genome and Transposons
00:17:20 – 4.1. Ways to simplify scientific concepts
00:18:50 – 4.2. Presentation of the story
00:19:50 – 4.3. Genome and transposons explained to children
00:29:10 – 4.4. Working with the editor

00:29:48 – Conclusion