Starting in December 2024, we will be welcoming teachers and students to our new TüftelLab in the STEAM Hub Siemensstadt Square to build, puzzle, try out and learn about sustainability topics. The TüftelLab is a pioneering concept that gives young people access to future-relevant technologies and enables them to play an active role in shaping a sustainable world.
Activities at the TüftelLab
Through the maker education approach, the TüftelLab provides teachers and pupils with a practical and hands-on approach to the digital world. In a time of rapid technological developments, it is essential to introduce children and young people to digital tools at an early age and to give them the skills they need to not only use these technologies, but also to help shape them. Instead of being passive consumers, the participants become creators and developers of their own ideas. They learn to think creatively and in a solution-oriented way by developing prototypes, programming and experimenting with innovative technologies such as robotics or virtual reality.
Trainings for teachers
In their own training modules, teachers from year 4 to year 10 learn more about the maker education approach and playful learning in STEM lessons. More in-depth modules focus on topics such as robotics, programming and virtual reality. They learn the basics of these topics, have the opportunity to get to know and try out various tools (Ozobots, VR glasses, Merge Cubes, Calliope Mini and Callibots, 3D printers and much more) and develop practical application scenarios for use in their (STEM) lessons. Thanks to the modular structure of the training course, teachers can select suitable training modules depending on their level of knowledge and previous experience.
Introductory workshops for students
School classes can also get to know the world of tinkering in the TüftelLab together with one or two teachers in introductory workshops. They develop and construct prototypes together. For example, they use microcontrollers to improve the learning atmosphere in the classroom, use virtual reality to explore new ways of making their own neighborhood more enjoyable to live in or give robot programming a try – for a more sustainable infrastructure in the city. While tinkering, they learn to work independently with digital applications and thus break down their inhibitions about new technologies.
Contact
Project management TüftelLab Berlin Siemens Stiftung
Franziska von Einem
franziska.einem@siemens-stiftung.org
Project management TüftelLab Berlin Siemens Stiftung
Angela Clerc
angela.clerc@siemens-stiftung.org
Partners
We are cooperating with Junge Tüftler*innen on the conception and implementation of the TüftelLab in the MINT Hub Siemensstadt Square. The TüftelLab is Junge Tüftler’s hybrid learning space designed to empower people to actively and sustainably shape the world with digital tools. The aim is to make learning fit for the future, in schools and beyond.