New Perspectives in Science Education

The Merck-TU Darmstadt-Juniorlabor was established as a joint project of the TU Darmstadt and the science and technology company Merck KGaA in 2008 [1]. It is a teaching laboratory for primary and secondary school students and their teachers at TU Darmstadt’s department of chemistry. Classes can participate in specifically developed workshops on a variety of chemistry-related topics, such as functional dyes, pharmaceuticals, anodizing processes. Our aim is to arouse interest and enthusiasm for the natural sciences with hands-on experiments and to provide career perspectives in STEM. Learning and experimentation take place preferably in small groups with authentic equipment and under professional guidance. Societal changes such as the growing importance of environmental awareness, sustainable development, and digitalization are integrated into our portfolio. Especially the increasing digitalization of all areas of life has an enormous impact on our daily routines. Digital media, tools and communication platforms have become ubiquitous. Not only do they change communication and work-related processes, they also create new challenges and opportunities for chemistry education [2]. Additionally, the use of digital media was explicitly called for in a strategy paper (“Education in the Digital World”) published by the Conference of Education Ministers (KMK) in 2016 [3], which was also confirmed by the German Federal Government with the Digital Pact for Schools (DigitalPakt Schule 2018) [4]. Therefore, we intend to include various types of digital media and tools in our offerings. Our lab is equipped with iPads, Vernier data-logging technology, and WiFi access. We chose an action research-based approach to optimize existing and develop new workshops This includes developing and providing digital materials such as individually accessible interactive PowerPoint-presentations, e-books, video instructions that provide guidance and additional information as needed. When appropriate, data loggers are used to collect, share, and analyze data. Best-practice examples as well as initial evaluation results will be presented.

Keywords: digitalization, iPads, hands-on experiments, data-logging, action research, chemistry education.

References:
[1] www.juniorlabor.de
[2] MNU (2019). Digitalisierung und Digitalität im MINT-Unterricht, Der mathematische und naturwissenschaftliche Unterricht (05), 353-440.
[3] KMK (2016) Strategie der Kultusministerkonferenz „Bildung in der digitalen Welt“
https://www.kmk.org/fileadmin/Dateien/veroeffentlichungen_beschluesse/
2018/Strategie_Bildung_in_der_digitalen_Welt_idF._vom_07.12.2017.pdf (retrieved: Oct. 21, 2019)
[4] BMBF (2018) “Wissenswertes zum DigitalPakt Schule“ https://www.bmbf.de/de/wissenswertes-zum-digitalpakt-schule-6496.php (retrieved: Oct. 21, 2019)