Getting children and young people interested in science and technology - that is the aim of the future MINT Cluster NordWest. Physics didactics expert Michael Komorek is playing a key role in the project, which is supported by the Federal Ministry of Education.
Climate change, sustainable agriculture, energy transition: These topics are currently on the minds of many children and young people - and offer good starting points for awakening their interest in complex scientific and technical problems, says Oldenburg physics didactics expert Prof Dr Michael Komorek. "Extracurricular places of learning such as science centres, museums or school laboratories are particularly well suited to increasing motivation because the young people can get active there themselves, experiment independently and learn about current research," he explains. Visiting such places of learning increases interest in maths, Computing Science, natural sciences and technology - the so-called MINT subjects - and complements school education.
In the joint project AHOI_MINT, which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), a team led by Komorek is now working with colleagues from the OFFIS computer science institute, the State Museum of Nature and Man and the Forschungszentrum Nordwest für Schülerinnen und Schüler e.V. to strengthen the networking of extracurricular and school-based STEM educational opportunities in the north-west of Lower Saxony. The Smart House Oldenburg is coordinating the project, and Komorek played a key role in the concept and application process. The aim is to establish a so-called STEM cluster by the end of 2025, in which regional extracurricular and educational institutions between Oldenburg and Wilhelmshaven, Leer and Delmenhorst work closely together and develop coordinated programmes. The aim is to give children and young people aged between ten and 16 - especially girls - easier access to scientific subjects, regardless of their background.
Looking beyond subject boundaries
To mark the start of the programme, in which the BMBF is funding 22 STEM clusters across Germany, Federal Education Minister Anja Karliczek presented the Oldenburg stakeholders with her funding decision of around 500,000 euros in December. "With the new STEM partnerships, we are now strengthening the extracurricular STEM education programme," said the Minister. Children and young people would increasingly have the opportunity to take advantage of STEM programmes in their immediate surroundings even after school.
A central idea of AHOI_MINT is to link the programmes offered by various extracurricular and school-based learning locations in such a way that pupils can look at complex problems such as climate change or the future energy supply from different perspectives. They should learn to think professionally according to their level of knowledge, but also to look beyond subject boundaries. "Unlike at school, extracurricular places of learning take a more interdisciplinary approach, which is appropriate for complex topics and makes it easier to grasp current dilemmas," explains Dr Christin Sajons, research associate in the Didactics of Physics and Science Communication working group.
Networked learning centres
Sajons is a co-founder of a network of six extracurricular STEM learning centres in Wilhelmshaven and Friesland, which is now integrated into AHOI_MINT and serves as a kind of real-world laboratory. The Coastal Museum, the Botanical Garden, the Environmental Centre in Schortens, the Technology and Nature Learning Centre and the Wadden Sea Visitor Centre have combined their offerings on topics such as climate change and coastal protection in such a way that they tie in with each other. Over a period of two years, fifth to eighth graders can learn about how dykes and dunes protect the coast, which plants grow there and how storm surges changed the coastline in the past at the various learning centres. "This complementary network helps even younger pupils to understand complex interrelationships and relate them to each other," says Sajons.
In addition to the five project groups, around 50 other cooperation partners are involved, including companies, schools and extracurricular education providers. Schools with STEM programmes in the afternoon, for example, open these up to all young people from the region, while companies are involved with career guidance programmes. Komorek and his working group support the partners in their didactic development work. They offer training courses and work shadowing to further qualify the educational stakeholders. The university's teaching and learning laboratories (OLELA), such as the physiXS student laboratory, are also involved. This gives student teachers the opportunity to supervise pupils or to develop and research new learning opportunities in Bachelor's and Master's theses.
Deepening personal interests
In addition to the offers for school classes, AHOI_MINT also supports individualised learning paths for young people. Pupils are encouraged to take advantage of further offers within the network after visiting a learning centre and to deepen their personal interests as a result. "A pupil who enjoys programming a solar boat during a class excursion to the learning centre for technology and nature can find out about other technology offers in the afternoon, such as a course on robotics at OFFIS," explains Komorek. This could be followed by factory tours with cooperation partners and ultimately the decision to pursue an academic appointment in science and technology.
To raise awareness of the STEM cluster in the region, the project team is planning to organise school fairs and other events - after all, by the end of the project, the programmes should reach around 38,000 children and young people between the ages of 10 and 16, i.e. around half of all pupils in this age group in the region.
