A workshop in the series “Łukasiewicz INSpires”, organized by Łukasiewicz – New Chemical Syntheses Institute, was held at the Puławy Science and Technology Park on May 20-22, 2026. Participants were students of the Complex of Technical Schools in Puławy and children from grades 1-3 of Elementary School No. 11 in Puławy.
On the first day, the class was led by Robert Bicki, introducing the youngsters to the world of industrial chemistry. The students learned about the role of catalysts and sorbents, and thanks to material about the Pulawy Nitrogen Plant Azoty Group, they saw what real technological processes look like. In the practical part, they observed the work of a gas chromatograph and the analysis of air and exhaled gas, which allowed them to understand how the composition of mixtures is studied in practice.
On the following days, workshops for the youngest children were led by Joanna Baran, Emilia Jóźwik and Anna Tyńska. In the “Rainbow Laboratory of the Little Explorer” children discovered basic chemical phenomena through experiments – they created colorful layers of liquids of different densities, observed changes in the color of solutions, made a “chemical volcano” and prepared their own bath balls. Great excitement was also aroused by the spectacular “elephant paste”, which in a short time filled a vessel with impressive foam.
The workshop showed that the most effective form of learning is direct experience – regardless of age, participants were able to see how chemistry works in practice and see that it is not just theory from a textbook, but part of everyday life and modern technology.
