The nitrogen paradox explained to young people

Adama Bakayoko, a PhD student at the University of Felix Houphouët-Boigny (UFHB) and Physics and Chemistry teacher at Bingerville Modern College, was recently awarded a certificate of distinction from the latter for his important work facilitating workshops with high-school students on the “Nitrogen Paradox”. The workshops were run by Alexandre Eissautier and Clarisse Samson, two scientific facilitators from Les Petit.e.s Débrouillard.e.s d’Occitanie (APDOC), a French non-for-profit organization dedicated to science popularisation, as a part of the INSA project (see article here). According to the administration of Bingerville Modern College, the workshops have aroused great enthusiasm among the students, particularly among girls!

The high school students had the opportunity to present the activities completed in the workshops, via online-participation, at the Exposcience Occitanie Festival in June 2022. The Exposcience Festival is an exhibition of projects for-and-by young people (5-25 years old) in science and technology. The festival also includes fun workshops and events open to schoolchildren and the general public. The festivities included a radio interview with Adama Bakayoko by the youth-focused web-radio station Les Radios Francas.

Adama is currently in Toulouse completing a 2-month INSA secondment. After submitting his thesis at the beginning of July, Adama will spend one month working with facilitators at APDOC on improving his science communication and facilitation skills, including how to communicate his own scientific research to a non-scientific audience.