By Marcela Salazar

Located in a neighbourhood once considered the most dangerous in Medellin, Colombia, the Parque Explora’s [link: http://www.parqueexplora.org/] architecture clashes with the buildings around it. It is an example of how an interactive centre for popularization of science and technology can involve the local community, generating social construction of knowledge from local interests. According to Claudia Aguirre, director of education and content in Explora, the projects are developed in co-creation with the local community. "We bring a few things and the community provides others, becoming an active part in this process", she explains. Aguirre is one of the speakers of the 13th International Conference on Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST) on May 6.

 Figura 1 - Parque Explora’s

Explora is an educational and cultural project that since its beginning had the challenge to expose a part of the town that has long been excluded from the local circuit. One of its missions is to encourage the general public to take interest on the scientific and technological knowledge through interactive scenarios and exhibitions that promote civic scientific culture. One of the lines of action of the Parque Explora is to involve the community in projects such as "The neighbors build Explora" - an initiative for community empowerment for the public collaboration in the construction of Explora.  Another project is the "Mobile Explora", a truck that travels all neighbourhoods in Medellin, leading experimental activities, and promoting workshops that plays with scientific themes. 

Aguirre emphasizes the importance of turning science into an integral part of everyday life. "For too long the scientific knowledge has been seen as a matter of elite, completely distant from people's everyday lives. The goal of science communication is precisely to find ways to attract the interest of people to the world around them, to develop scientific and citizenship skills. It is to stimulate analytical capacity, contrast, experimentation, observation. In other words, nothing more than exercise our role as citizens participants of a society with a diversity of knowledge and ways of doing", summarizes the director of Explora.

During the PCST, Aguirre will attend the plenary "Social inclusion, political engagement and science communication," on May 6. She will discuss the processes of social inclusion in Parque Explora and the functioning of an area of ​​social management related to science. "This may seem very strange, because the gap between science and society has not been fully overcome. People think the world of science only discusses science, so having an area of ​​social management that allows addressing other issues, other languages ​​closest to the community, is a form of social inclusion. This is how Parque Explora has worked, "says Aguirre.

According to her, the participation in PCST will be an opportunity to assess the state of science communication in the world. She hopes to establish partnerships for future researches and projects, and to meet other similar initiatives for exchanging experiences. "I think that the feeling that you are not fighting alone makes you have more courage to face the challenges that arise," she concludes.