Experimentation day for children at IU Campus Ulm

Prof. Dr Annette Schneider

“The earlier and more positive the access to STEM topics, the more likely it is that children will develop a more open and interested attitude towards this field and later choose a STEM profession,” says Prof. Dr Annette Schneider, Professor of Childhood Education at IU. She came up with the idea for the experimentation day and implemented it together with her students. “It's a great project that offers our future childhood educators real practical relevance and with which we can jointly contribute to early STEM promotion, which should be expanded even further in the Ulm area,” adds the professor. In one of her surveys, she found that only less than 10 per cent of daycare centres still offer STEM projects. A decline that she would like to counteract with passion and commitment.

This was the second time that Prof. Dr Schneider had processed the experimentation day with a group of students. 14 dual students from the IU's Childhood Education study programme were able to plan, design and implement the project independently. In various teams, they took care of the room concept, time management, materials and finances, marketing and overall project coordination. The selection and preparation of the experiments was also part of their project. On the day itself, they guided the children through the various experiments, imparted knowledge and reflected on their experiences and findings afterwards in a scientific protocol. As there was already a great deal of interest last year, the students processed this year's experimentation day in two rounds. The first group started in the morning, the other in the afternoon.

For both the children and the students, the experimentation day was great fun with a lasting effect. There was also great gratitude on the part of the professionals at the participating daycare centres. “Unfortunately, we can't process something like this on this scale ourselves at our centre, so we think it's great that IU is offering this experiment day free of charge,” said several of them.

Professor Schneider would like to establish the project as a permanent part of her study programme and preferably process it several times a year in order to give as many children as possible in Ulm access to the STEM field. “However, this would require cooperation partners or sponsors who would like to expand this programme with us,” says Schneider, who is happy to receive interested enquiries at annette.schneider@iu.org.

About the dual study programme at IU

In the dual study programme at IU International University of Applied Sciences, students gain practical experience in a company in their region alongside theory in lectures and seminars. Students can apply and test the knowledge they have learnt directly in the split week or alternating weeks. They complete the theoretical part either in the traditional way on site at one of the campus locations across Germany, via online teaching or from any location on the Virtual Campus. A high proportion of practical work within the programme prepares students ideally for their entry into working life. Further information at: https://www.iu.de/duales-studium/

All information on the dual study programme Childhood Education can be found at: https://www.iu.de/bachelor/kindheitspadagogik/duales-studium/