The future of technology-orientated societies depends to a considerable extent on their skills in the STEM subjects (STEM = mathematics, engineering, natural sciences, technology). This is the reason for many initiatives to get involved in early education. This involves awakening and encouraging children's interest in science, technology and maths in nurseries and primary schools.
Curiosity
Children are naturally curious and questioning researchers. However, success in daycare centres and primary schools can only be achieved if educators are able to transfer their personal enthusiasm for scientific questions to the children.
Involvement of nursery school teachers
Numerous employees in daycare centres and primary schools do not have the confidence to actively participate in early education because their knowledge is insufficient and the experimental material and often also the premises are not available.
In such cases, a senior citizen with professional and life experience - as a "mentor" - can make a considerable contribution to closing the knowledge gaps and also provide assistance in setting up a research box or a research laboratory.
The joint experimentation of educators, children and senior citizens is usually crowned with success for everyone involved. The interest and enthusiasm of the children are the reward for the work of the senior and mentor. There are no more grateful "employees"!
Everything a mentor needs to get started (documents, literature and experimental material) is easy and inexpensive to obtain. The foundation "Kinder forschen" (previously: "Haus der kleinen Forscher"), for example, provides all kinds of help for starting out as a kindergarten mentor.
Below are some examples of keywords for internet research that provide a good overview of the environment associated with early science education.
There is no one-size-fits-all recipe for starting an initiative at a daycare centre. The future sponsor first selects a daycare centre whose management is interested in early education and enthusiastically agrees to the proposal to introduce experimental, scientific early education in the daycare centre. The daycare centre and sponsor develop a concept tailored to the infrastructure of the daycare centre and then the teacher, children and sponsor start carrying out simple experiments. Nothing then stands in the way of further development of the collaboration up to certification by the Haus der kleinen Forscher.
This works, and the author of this text has already experienced this several times. Of course, it is easier to get started if you have a sponsor. In my case, this was and is Degussa and Evonik Industries AG.