If you can dream it, you can do it: the first Let's Science! lab in Basel

Science is exciting in every language: The "Let's Science!" Labs are now also present in German-speaking Switzerland. The first event of this kind took place at the Cartoon Museum in Basel, following the concept of combining science with comics and creativity.

The "Let's Science!" Lab format developed by the IBSA Foundation in Ticino for lower and upper secondary school classes combines solid scientific information with the clarity of comics. In this way, "Let's Science!" provides easy access to scientific topics for young people - and for all generations. Because everyone understands the language of comics.

In accordance with the combination of science and comics, the first "Let's Science!" Lab in German-speaking Switzerland took place at the Cartoonmuseum in Basel on May 16 2024. The topic: "Sleep and Dreams". Fifteen pupils from Gymnasium Leonhard Basel learned exciting facts about this field of research from Professor Serge Brand and were then able to creatively process what they had heard.

The event was based on the book "Sleep and Dreams" from the "Let's Science!" series, which the students could take home as a gift, in addition to drawing utensils and free admissions to the Cartoonmuseum.

A fruitful partnership

The Cartoonmuseum is the only museum in Switzerland dedicated exclusively to narrative art, as comics and cartoons are also known. Since 2023, IBSA Foundation for scientific research has been supporting this unique institution. A partnership based on many things in common and driven forward creatively by both sides.

Reference points to science can always be made with the works shown by the museum. For example, the exhibition of the cartoonist and visual artist Dominique Goblet during the "Let's Science!" event at the Cartoonmuseum dealt with the subconscious, in keeping with the theme of the "Let's Science!" book "Sleep and Dreams". The Belgian artist reveals the depths of the human soul in her pictures. This is how she processes her own dreams and traumas. In her art, dreams, and reality merge to form a new world.

The science of dreams

Sleep and dreams are also two of the most fascinating areas of research in science. We dream every day - but why we do so is still a mystery. Professor Serge Brand answered the students' questions on the subject with a great deal of humor. He conducts research at the Center for Affective, Stress and Sleep Disorders at the University Psychiatric Clinics in Basel and was voted one of the top 20 Swiss psychologists in Switzerland. The adolescents wanted to know, for example, whether everyone really dreams. Brand used studies to explain that everyone dreams, but that not everyone remembers their dreams at night and why this is the case.

The class was particularly interested in a specific form of dreaming, which is called lucid dreaming. This means that you can influence your dreams because you become aware in your sleep that you're dreaming.

Depicting dreams as comics 

Afterwards, art educator Dale Forbes Molina led the school class through Dominique Goblet's exhibition at the Cartoonmuseum.

The following workshop involved creating their own small comic book about dreams from an A4 sheet of paper. Dale Forbes Molina had come up with something very special for this. The pupils either developed a picture from given graphic elements or drew their own composition. The artwork was then altered again in the color copier.

The pages created by ingenious folding showed colored structures that looked like surreal figures. The students could rework these once again.

Practical benefits

By looking at the topic from different perspectives, the pupils not only learned a lot about dreams, but also about how to deal with sleep disorders or nightmares, for example. The book "Sleep and Dreams" covers all the topics of the "Let's Science!" Lab. And there's a wealth of tips on how to improve your sleep.

Find out more about the project: https://www.ibsafoundation.org/en/projects/lets-science

The "Let’s Science!" book series: https://www.ibsafoundation.org/en/publications/book-series

More activities: https://www.ibsafoundation.org/en/activities/tag/lets-science