Home fires have devastating consequences: homes and businesses are destroyed and people can be seriously injured, causing not only physical but psychological impacts on hundreds of thousands of people. And it was precisely this motto, presented by student Millaray Gómez, from Bernadette College, in La Florida, metropolitan region of Santiago, Chile, that founded the Leak Detector (Leak-D), a low-cost device for identifying gas leaks.
The young woman, who had just lost a family member in a house fire, presented the proposal to her colleagues Darling Bustamante and Cristóbal Cheuquel and to the chemistry teacher Liliana Gutiérrez Castro, who is responsible for coordinating the school’s laboratory activities, as well as supporting projects and students’ STEM initiatives. “Millaray was very moved by what had happened to her family and determined to somehow get involved with an answer to what happened,” explains the teacher. “With the support of colleagues, and from scientific calls for fairs and exhibitions, we decided to face the issue together,” she explains.
At the beginning of the project, Liliana guided the group towards systematic research on the problem, both in scientific articles and in news from newspapers and websites. “For them to move forward, it was necessary to understand the problem, identifying the limitations in the existing solutions,” she explains. As a product of the stage, the students realized that the existing fire alarms are expensive and many of them are unable to capture the different types of gas (liquid and natural). Liquid or liquefied gas (LPG) is a petroleum derivative, sold in cylinders and natural gas is piped and sold by large concessionaires.
In the beginning, due to the pandemic, it was all done at the students and teacher’s homes. As she lived closer to Santiago, where it was easier to get the materials, she was responsible for the first ideations, operating the instructions for the students. “We would turn on the camera and they would instruct me on what to do,” she explains. Based on studies and initial designs, the group managed to advance in a first prototype, all built with recyclable materials. “One of our challenges was to establish a simple circuit in a sensitive electrical circuit and for that, we had the support of a fellow teacher,” she explains. She tells that the ideation process had a great brainstorm, in which everyone, students and invited teachers, presented their proposals for the solution of the problem.
When they were able to return to school, although on a rotating basis, the students took over the prototyping and testing. “They stayed late, and they had the collaboration and support of their families,” identifies Liliana.
The developed device consists of a gas sensor, an LED system, an alarm, and a battery. When gas is present in the environment, the sensor activates the light and emits an audible alarm. On the other models, they added an on and off button and fitted the housing with a socket for charging into a lamp receptacle. “While, of course, more adjustments are needed, the kids have indeed created a powerful, low-cost solution that can change many people’s lives,” celebrates the teacher.
The prototype was qualified with the support of the University of Development, in a connection established by Tomás Ffrench-David, one of the mentors who accompanied the group through Samsung Solve for Tomorrow. “The idea of the LED lamp was the result of discussions and collaboration of these experts, who certainly supported students to think outside the box and even understand the power of the solution they were developing,” he explains.
For the teacher, the students made a lot of progress in creating the proposal and learned to collaborate, systematize ideas, and especially think creatively. “When we potentiate research practices at school, we potentiate innovation; it is an experience that produces a great transformation, teaches students to be more confident, to be able to systematize curricular knowledge based on their concerns, to lose the fear of trying, to acquire knowledge safely.
This gives meaning to learning,” says the teacher. According to Liliana, the Project Based Learning (PBL) approach and STEM knowledge invite students to conduct concrete exercises. “In this case, they had to not only revisit, but advance in the understanding of electrical circuits, electricity, gas behavior, and the construction and reading of graphs. They are tools and knowledge that they will take for life and that motivates me as a teacher; supporting them, as a mediator, to build their own learning paths,” he concludes.
