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School children's lab

Waking up curiosity about research – starting with primary school children. This is the aim of the "WissensForscher" (KnowledgeSearchers) project. PTB supports this project and offers "taster lessons" in science, with experiments for primary school classes relating to the meter, the kilogram and the second.

Taster lessons

Research is fun, increases self-confidence and supports learning. Since the first semester of 2009, PTB has offered a science lesson in experimental physics once a week. Any interested primary school classes can register for a taster lesson at PTB.

Available dates

During the lesson

The primary school children (years 1 to 4) carry out scientific experiments independently under the supervision of PTB staff: scientific phenomena are investigated qualitatively and quantitatively. The school children primarily set up the experiments and perform them on their own, as well as documenting the results independently. Planning (before) and drawing up the results (after) are done by the class as a whole..

Registering a primary school class:Registering a primary school class:

Any interested primary school classes should register in writing for a taster lesson at PTB. :

Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt
Sylvia Borchardt
Press and Information Offfice
Bundesallee 100
D-38116 Braunschweig

E-Mail: sylvia.borchardt(at)ptb.de
Phone: +49(0)531 592-9315

Goals

  • Developing a basic understanding of the natural laws
  • Supporting the understanding of scientific resources: measuring equipment (e.g. for length, weight, time, etc.) and measurement methods (e.g. experiments, tables, diagrams) )
  • Supporting technical skills (the experiments are performed by the children themselves)
  • Supporting the children's powers of observation
  • Supporting their linguistic competence through discussing the results
  • Supporting scientific talent in girls and boys: girls discover their skills, boys learn to appreciate girls as competent research partners
  • Making use of skills already learnt at school: reading, math, drawing and holding discussions

Your own school club

Spending a morning at PTB is very good – being a regular KnowledgeSearcher is even better! Start a "WissensForscher-AG" (KnowledgeSearcher Club) in your school! You will find a large range of useful ideas on doing this at www.WissensForscher.de(in German).