Native Scientist On Tour In North Europe
In collaboration with the Goethe-Institut, Native Scientist will travel around 8 European countries to organise German science workshops and promote science and language integrated learning.
The project is called "Wissenschaftliche Herausforderungen" (translated to English as Challenging Assumptions) and invites German-speaking scientists in 8 cities (London, Dublin, Glasgow, Amsterdam, Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki and Copenhagen) to talk and demonstrate their work to secondary school pupils. The idea is that the scientists speak in German and present their field of research from an angle that shows how scientific conceptions and misconceptions shape our understanding of the world. For example, an astronomer that wants to talk about how we explore other planets may start by explaining that initially people thought that Earth was the centre of the Universe and that the sun was orbiting Earth. However, people now know that it is the Earth that orbits the sun.
If you are a German-speaking scientist and live in one of the cities listed, we invite you to join our workshops by signing up to volunteer here. If you are not too sure if you can participate or don’t know what to say or show, don't worry, we can give you support. Please write to Kerstin (kerstin.beer@nativescientist.com) and she will give you advice.
According to Kathrin Lauber, project manager at the Goethe-Institut in London, "German science workshops combine German with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects. The workshops link to core subjects which are part of the curricula in Northwestern Europe. They inform students about the recent research projects of German scientists, showcase future prospects and focus on the topic of studying in Germany. Apart from that, they have a motivating character and set the language in a real context.” The Goethe-Institut organises activities and promotes projects that enable the learning of German as a foreign language all around the world, helping the different national educational systems implement the learning of German.
Native Scientist is a network of international scientists that promotes science outreach and language learning. Since its foundation in 2013, 60+ workshops have been organised, reaching over 1,700 pupils.
