The zdi Centre in Kamp-Lintfort, the Wesel District Education Authority and its NRW Expertise Team are educational partners
Kleve/Kamp-Lintfort, 30 April 2014: Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences, the Wesel District Education Authority and its NRW Competence Team have agreed to collaborate with primary schools and all secondary schools in the Wesel district to promote so-called STEM skills (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). Activities designed to strengthen the STEM skills of children and young people are to be brought together under a coordinated framework, creating a sustainable structure. The measures are underpinned by the idea of jointly creating formats and programmes that put scientific and technical content into practice. The aim is to make STEM subjects exciting for children and young people, to discover talent and to foster excellence.
A cooperation agreement to this effect was signed by Professor Dr Marie-Louise Klotz, President of Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences, and Ms Anna Maria Eicker, the official responsible for the Wesel district at the local education authority, on 29 April 2014 in Kamp-Lintfort. Key elements of the partnership include the provision and free loan of high-quality teaching materials, the organisation of professional development events, and the implementation of the ‘Haus der kleinen Forscher’ programme in primary schools across the Wesel district.
House of Little Scientists
The zdi Centre Kamp-Lintfort at Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences is a network partner of the nationwide ‘Haus der kleinen Forscher’ foundation in the Wesel district. The programme is designed to support the learning of children aged six to ten, and its content is aligned with the educational and teaching curricula of the federal states. Since mid-2012, all nursery teachers at the 235 nurseries in the Wesel district have had the opportunity to attend training workshops to learn how they can foster a natural enthusiasm for scientific and technical phenomena in children as young as three to six years old. Since the end of 2013, the zdi Centre in Kamp-Lintfort at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences, the Wesel District Education Authority and its NRW Competence Team have been working closely together to implement the programme for primary schools in the Wesel district. This collaboration serves as a model for the rest of North Rhine-Westphalia. Of a total of 78 primary schools in the district, 42 have already made a firm commitment to take part. In addition to ongoing professional development sessions run by trainers from the NRW Competence Team in the Wesel district, each school receives free materials tailored to the children’s learning needs.
Loaning of teaching materials
Well-equipped and therefore attractive schools, as well as competent subject-specific and methodological teaching, are important factors in attracting people to towns and districts. Schools cannot keep all the equipment in stock themselves that is necessary and desirable for experimentation and in-depth learning in the STEM subjects. In a district covering a large area, there is also the challenge of ensuring that pupils have access to such opportunities within a reasonable distance.
The cooperation partners are therefore setting up a free lending scheme for teaching materials for schools of all types in the Wesel district. The materials are procured by the zdi Centre in Kamp-Lintfort. The NRW Competence Team in the Wesel district facilitates the implementation of this scheme, both pedagogically and organisationally, through professional development events and by overseeing the lending service at two school sites – one on the left bank and one on the right bank of the Rhine – which serve as lending centres.
For primary schools, items purchased include KiNT science kits on the topics of floating and sinking, air and air pressure, bridges and electricity. For secondary schools, there are experiment kits for chemistry lessons containing medical technology accessories, the ‘Light & Colour’ experiment kits (photographic processes in nature and technology), Lego Mindstorms robots, and the ‘Linear Motion and Impact Experiments’ kits, which enable the study of uniform motion and Newton’s laws. The range of resources is to be continuously expanded.
For zdi-Kamp-Lintfort, this collaboration represents a further step towards establishing a network in the Wesel district comprising universities, nurseries, schools, the business community, employment agencies, politicians, chambers of commerce, associations and local government. The shared aim is to attract more young people to study or train in STEM subjects, thereby helping to secure the next generation of skilled workers at a regional level in the long term.
Caption:
Image 1: Prof. Dr Marie-Louise Klotz, President of Rhein-Waal University of Applied Sciences, and Ms Anna Maria Eicker, representative of the Wesel District Education Authority, signing the cooperation agreement.
Image 2: from left to right: Anna Maria Eicker, representative of the Wesel District Education Authority; Dr Martin Kreymann, project coordinator at the zdi Centre in Kamp-Lintfort; Prof. Dr Marie-Louise Klotz, President of Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences.
