New primary school project: first meeting in Berlin

As the project title "Explanatory and experiment videos for primary school: Understanding our nature" already suggests, the new project of Science on Stage aims to develop videos for use in primary schools to teach children about nature. After an application phase at the beginning of this year, the team of coordinators chose 20 primary school teachers from a total of 13 countries who will create these videos together over the next one and a half years. Between the 14th and 16th of April, the first of two official project meetings took place in Berlin.

This first meeting was mainly about developing ideas and concepts for the videos. Therefore, on the first day and in addition to an intensive round of getting to know each other, a joint brainstorming session was on the agenda: Which topics and ideas are important to the participants for this project? What aspects are important when it comes to experiments specifically for primary school children? How can primary school children and teachers be motivated to experiment? This first day then ended in a relaxed atmosphere with a joint dinner.

Even though the majority of the participating teachers already had some experience with the conception and creation of video material, the second day began with an introduction to the topic of videos. Soraya Cornelius, one of the project coordinators, showed the participants how good videos can be created for use in the classroom and what needs to be considered. Afterwards, the participants tried out what was shown directly in small groups and the first experiments were filmed on the spot. After lunch and a walk along the Spree and past the German Bundestag, the group decided on five main topics for the content of the videos: recycling, energy, plants, climate change and water.  These topics were discussed in small groups and initial ideas for implementation were formulated.

This group work continued for some time on the last day of the meeting. Finally, before all participants left for home again, the ideas and proposals for implementation were presented.

We thank the four coordinators of the project as well as all participating teachers for their active and motivated cooperation and look forward to the great results for which the foundation was laid at this first meeting.

The next project meeting in presence will probably take place in March 2024. Until then, the participants will meet digitally at regular intervals to continue working on their video projects.