DuRSAAM @ Workshop for children

DuRSAAM @ Workshop for children | 23-24 August 2021

Playing with green concretes - DuRSAAM game

The workshop given in the scope of the DuRSAAM project had as aim to teach children about concrete – one of the most used, man-made building materials in the world. The children learned about the advantages and disadvantages of concrete, the effects that concrete production has on the environment and potential "green" solutions through a series of interesting experiments and play in the Magnel-Vandepitte Laboratory. They started with a destructive strength test to see how strong ‘green’ concrete can be, followed by an introduction on the composition of traditional concrete and "green" concrete made from recycled materials. Next, the children actively participated in the mixing and casting of "green" concrete figurines (butterflies, ducks, dinosaurs, etc.). In addition, UGent researchers (Ivana Krajnovic, Natalia Alderete, Nathan Lampens and Philip Van Den Heede) taught the children about the importance of a good resistance against concrete deterioration from outside by means of capillary sorption tests using coloured ink. Finally, the children creatively painted the "green" concrete figurines which they could afterwards take home as fridge magnets. As optional homework, they received the task to keep on monitoring the durability of their fridge magnets in time. Thanks to this workshop the children learned that concrete is without a doubt a strong and important building material. Nevertheless, it requires a lot of testing, knowledge and patience to make concrete as useful, durable and sustainable as possible for everyone.