By Pioneer Science | Published on January 7, 2026 | Last updated on May 14, 2026
Project promotes science activities in municipal schools and expands access to scientific education for low-income youth
In 2025, 21 public schools in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro were impacted by the Weeks S of Sciences project, developed by Pioneer Science in partnership with the Instituto Apontar and Ciência Sob Tendas. Throughout the year, more than 2,000 young people participated in practical and interactive activities aimed at developing scientific thinking.
Science education can inspire new ways of learning, thinking, and acting. At Pioneer Science, we work in collaboration with expert partners in their fields (such as Instituto Apontar and Ciências Sob Tendas), with the purpose of expanding the reach of science and strengthening its transformative role in education.
One of the initiatives created together is the Week S of Sciences, which integrates an even broader proposal based on the STEAM methodology (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics). The approach promotes active, creative, and collaborative learning through interdisciplinary challenges and practical experiences.
The Week S consists of activities spread over three days, aimed at a group of students with high abilities, selected by Instituto Apontar, and on the last day, it opens its doors to the entire school community. The goal is to stimulate curiosity, critical thinking, and direct contact with the scientific methodology.
During the first two days in the after-school period, students dive into scientific experiments and workshops led by the mediators from Ciência Sob Tendas. On the last day, they become protagonists by presenting, along with the mediators, what they learned to other students, in a student-to-student format, where everyone experiments, discovers, and learns together.
This direct contact with science has a profound impact on how young people relate to knowledge. For Rômulo Braga, Program Manager at Instituto Apontar and responsible for the project in collaboration with Pioneer Science, the experience goes beyond school content:
“Science in education helps us think in a more organized, methodological way, to perceive the difference between what is knowledge and what is deception. Science helps us have the desire to learn more, and when science is well presented, children have such crystallizing experiences that will make them become future intellectuals. Pioneer Science is a necessary element for us to think about science and the development of scientific appetite today in schools. Most likely, after each science week, we will gain a new scientist of the future here.”
In 2025, the project served 25 classes of the A+ Program from Instituto Apontar distributed across 21 municipal schools in Rio de Janeiro, reaching over 2,000 low-income youth. The participating schools are inclusive spaces that value multiple ways of learning, where science comes to life in a concrete and accessible way.
The importance of taking science beyond traditional teaching is also highlighted by Lucianne Fragel, responsible for the partnership with Ciência Sob Tendas:
“It is extremely important that science is worked on beyond the textbook, in a much more interactive and playful way, that can attract these young people, not only to the scientific career but so they can become citizens who have an important role within society. So, I believe that support like this from Pioneer Science was and is fundamental for scientific education projects in Rio de Janeiro.”
Pioneer Science believes in and invests in education as a powerful tool for social transformation. For Ana Clara Cassanti, Education Manager at Pioneer Science, the impact of the project goes beyond numbers and is directly reflected in the lives of the young participants:
“What makes the most difference in being here today with these young people is seeing the sparkle in their eyes and seeing how science can really change their lives. Science opens up various possibilities in the lives of these young people, to have critical thinking and to see the position they have in society. The impact we generate as Pioneer Science is to change the lives of these young people through science, and I hope that today and in the future we can continue making this change that is so important internally and in our society.”
