Audio link recommendations to the MINT action plan
The Federal Ministry of Education and Research has had its not only since the MINT action plan activities in the disciplines of mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology – there have been numerous programs and projects for several years that are now linked to the fields of action named in the MINT action plan. The wealth of campaigns, handouts and offers that has emerged over the years is difficult to keep track of. The German education server offers an overview and orientation with its extensive dossier “MINT education”. The efforts for more and better MINT-Bi are scientifically discussedInvitation on October 28, 2021 also at the educational policy forum of the research network Educational Potentials “Innovation and Prosperity through MINT Education”.
Christine Schumann rummaged around in the education server dossier and picked out recommendable data sets for her audio link recommendations.
Link tips
STEM education for children and young people
Opportunities for girls and women in STEM
To the MINT education dossier with a structured collection of links to activities in this area as well as to material collections for teaching in (pre-) school.
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MINT-Fachkäfte
STEM in society
Reading version
Hello and welcome to Education on the ears – the podcast of the German Education Server. My name is Christine Schumann.
“Thinking scientifically means developing theories from observations that can be checked, verified or refuted.” Wants to give science and technology a new boost. And further it says:
- MINT education promotes problem-solving skills and contributes to elementary maturity in technology and science.
- STEM education contributes to an understanding of the world and an openness to new technologies.
- STEM education is central to economic performance and competitiveness.
If you read through it in this way, it becomes clear how much hope there is in implementing more and better educational offers in the natural sciences, mathematics, IT and technical subjects. It is not for nothing that the topic of the Leibniz Association’s Education Policy Forum on October 28, 2021 is also called “Innovation and Prosperity through STEM Education”.
In order to promote STEM education, four fields of action are named in the action plan – they provide the strategic framework for implementation: STEM education for children and young people, STEM specialists, opportunities for girls and women in STEM and STEM in society. In addition to many new overarching initiatives, ongoing measures are also integrated into these fields of action – and of course a wealth of projects and campaigns, handouts and offers have emerged over the years. So many that an overview and orientation are not exactly easy. But that’s why there is the German education server with its extensive education server dossier “MINT education”!
For today’s audio link recommendations, I was guided by these fields of action and picked out recommendable data sets from our dossier.
“The earlier the better” – that’s what many experts say when you ask them when to start with the STEM education. And because children are known to be curious and thirsty for knowledge, it is best to start at daycare. In addition to the well-known “House of Little Scientists”, which offers many child-friendly experiments as well as free training for educators, I would like to introduce Experimento. This is an international MINT education program from the Siemens Foundation for use in kindergartens as well as in elementary and secondary schools. Education experts have developed around 130 experiments for three age groups: for 4-7 year olds, 8-12 year olds and 10-18 year olds. This enables children and young people to independently research, reflect and understand scientific and technical issues in a way that suits their age group – and at the same time further develop their knowledge of global challenges such as the greenhouse effect, renewable energies or drinking water production. All experiment instructions and visual media for Experimento can be downloaded from the Siemens Stiftung media portal.
And what about after school? How can you win over more people, more precisely more women, for STEM apprenticeships or for a scientific and technical university degree? I have found two interesting programs for this purpose: “Come on, do MINT – the national pact for women in MINT professions” and the Ada Lovelace project.
With the national pact for women in STEM professions “come, do STEM” The aim is to change the image of the MINT professions in society and to show women the opportunities in these professional fields: High school graduates are to be enthusiastic about scientific-technical courses and university graduates are to be won over to careers in technical companies and research institutions. “Come, do MINT” started in 2008 and is now supported by over 100 partners. The program’s website includes a project map with over 1,000 listed projects, and trial days, workshops, experimentation days, mentoring programs and science camps can also be researched here.
I can do what I want! That is the motto of the Ada Lovelace project in Rhineland-Palatinate. Around 180 mentors – students and trainees from the MINT area – work with schoolgirls on specific technical and scientific tasks in workshops and working groups, thus promoting the girls’ self-confidence in the MINT area. In addition to mentoring, there is also advice and training, and offers are made on the topics of diversity and digitization – and there is also networking! A pretty impressive project that is now available at over 11 universities in Rhineland-Palatinate. Oh yes: The website also provides information for those interested – participants, companies, teachers and parents.
Incidentally, Ada Lovelace is the daughter of the poet Lord Byron, and, more importantly, she was one of the first British mathematicians.
Yes, and then of course there are the very simple and practical tools with which you can find out whether an apprenticeship in the MINT area is an option: aptitude tests! Teachers or parents could suggest these to their children or students more often … for example, the recruitment tests for the metal and electrical industry. They can be found in the information portal “me-vermittlung.de”; In addition to general information on recruitment tests, there are also links to a MINT test and an IT aptitude test for schoolchildren. By the way, there is a lot more in our dossier …
And now to the last link tip: How can you strengthen digital skills in teacher training? When it comes to STEM, the German Center for Mathematics Teacher Training is definitely to be recommended. In the DZLM, as the abbreviation is used, advanced training programs are developed that are carried out, researched and continuously improved in cooperation with the federal states and educational institutions.
The DZLM offers teaching materials and organizes conferences, it qualifies multipliers and trains teachers – it also offers a part-time master’s course. Would you like an example? The “Maths Inclusive Teaching” platform with teaching materials for those who have particular difficulties learning maths. But there are many other offers – they are all clearly bundled on topic-specific platforms. A really extensive offer on a well-structured website – highly recommended.
So, those were my audio link recommendations on the subject of STEM education. And remember: There is a lot more to discover in the dossier of the German Education Server. Until next time.
The podcast jingle uses an excerpt from the track Tupac Lives by John Bartmann, licensed under CC0 Public Domain.
This podcast is available under the CC BY 4.0 License. In the event of further use, the name of the author should be mentioned as follows: Christine Schumann for German Education Server
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