Circa 500 studentesse e studenti per il Radon Day 2024

In Italy, over 500 high school students participated in November in events on radioactivity organised by the INFN RadioLab and ISOradioLAb projects, promoted by INFN to raise awareness onnatural and man-made radioactivity among younger generations, through meetings, experimental experiences in the laboratory and in the local area, and public initiatives. The events are implemented within the scope of the European Radon Day, which is celebrated every year on 7 November, the anniversary of Maria Skłodowska Curie’s birth, with initiatives throughout Europe. RadioLab is an INFN project established in 2004 and dedicated to secondary schools, mainly high schools, which is spread over several school years. The project aims to bring new generations closer to the topic of radioactivity through lectures and direct measurement experiences so that they can discuss it with awareness, understanding the implications related to the use of ionizing radiation. The programme culminates with an event in which the students illustrate to the public what they have discovered, raising awareness of the issue of radioactivity. Since 2021, the new branch of the project, ISOradioLAb, has been structured, dedicated to Italy’s smaller islands and involving middle and high schools from the Aeolian Islands, Ischia, Lampedusa, Linosa, Pantelleria and San Pietro over the past two years. ISOradioLAb is a project aimed explicitly at schools on the smaller islands precisely to give the students who live there the same opportunities for participation, interchange and involvement in the implementation of projects proposed by universities and research centres that their peers living on the Italian mainland have, with a view to overcoming the natural difficulties associated with their geographical location.