The Education Department at the Museum für Naturkunde closely collaborates with various partners, such as schools, kindergartens, universities, adult education centres and artists, both in the field of educational practice and in educational research. Here is an overview of some of our projects.
Educational research at the Museum für Naturkunde
In addition to the conception and implementation of educational programmes, one focus of the education department is educational research. Here, the research interests are closely linked to the museum's themes and tasks. In selected exhibitions and Citizen Science projects, the understanding of science and the goals of science communication are investigated. In the field of environmental education, one research focus is on experiences of nature in and outside the museum.
Furthermore, we are interested in how model-based learning develops in non-formal learning and experience spaces, such as the Museum für Naturkunde. In addition, we are investigating the acceptance of evolution among different groups such as museum visitors, pupils and students in a collaborative project.
Contact: Dr Alexandra Moormann
Voluntary ecological year at the Museum für Naturkunde
In cooperation with the organisation Vereinigung Junger Freiwilliger e. V. (Association of Young Volunteers), ten young adults can currently spend a voluntary ecological year in the scientific collection at the Museum für Naturkunde. Here they support the museum staff in the inventory and digitisation of collection objects and in their scientific work. They also accompany visitors in the open Microscopy Centre as well as school groups in microscopy courses and excursions. Young adults, who would like to get to know the scientific and educational work at a research museum and have pleasure in bringing science closer to visitors, can register with the Vereinigung junger Freiwilliger e.V..
Report on the voluntary ecological year at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin in the Magazine for Nature (p. 18) In German only.
Application under: www.vjf.de
Vielfalt Verstehen – Natur erforschen und erleben (Understanding Diversity)
The interdisciplinary pilot project "Vielfalt Verstehen" (Understanding Diversity) combines the aspects of "research into nature in Berlin" and "better access to urban nature and environmental education projects". Together with schools, associations, district organisations and residents, places where many different species live are explored in the districts of Mitte and Reinickendorf, i.e. directly in the residential areas of Berliners, and extensive environmental education and participation opportunities are offered. By training multipliers such as teachers, environmental educators and childcare workers and involving the Berlin population in biodiversity research, new meeting places for exchanging knowledge, recovery and nature experience will be created in the long term. Funding: Berlin Senate Department for Mobility, Transport, Climate Protection and the Environment (2023-2025).
Coordination offices for environmental education in Mitte and Reinickendorf
The Museum für Naturkunde has been responsible for the coordination offices for nature, environment, climate and sustainability education in the districts of Reinickendorf and Mitte since 2023 and 2024. The main task of the coordination offices is to communicate environmental education offers to schools, daycare centers and other educational institutions, to build networks with providers and users and to support green learning locations. Together with the other district coordination offices, they work in the NaturStadtBerlin network to promote a conscious and sustainable approach to nature and better coexistence in our society. The coordination offices are funded by the Bezirksamt (district office) Reinickendorf and Mitte.
Further information:
Coordination office Reinickendorf
Coordination office Mitte (website still under construction)
NATürlich training!
Schoolgirls explore scientific apprenticeships.
In this event, schoolgirls from grade 9 onwards can deal with STEM topics, do their own experiments, exchange ideas with others interested in science and get to know scientific apprenticeships at first hand. The free offer is aimed exclusively at girls. The three participating school labs, the NatLab of Freie Universität Berlin, the Gläserne Labor on the Berlin-Buch campus and the Microscopy Centre of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, take turns hosting the event. The offer is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
Program and further information
Nature in the change of seasons – educational projects with kindergartens
In programmes over several days, preschool children are introduced to nature in the change of seasons in their direct surrounding, in the city, in wildlife parks and in the museum. Through explorations, small experiments and games, they have their first nature experiences and their fear of contact is reduced. They also learn how to protect nature better. During the three-hour project days, numerous materials for observing animals are used, as well as animal skins and animal voices from the museum. In this way, the children learn about the work at a research museum in a playful way. Together with the teachers, ideas are developed on how to make the children's environment more nature-friendly and how to establish environmental education in the kindergartens in the long term.
Funded by: Projektfond Sozialer Zusammenhalt with funds from the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community; urban development funding from the Federal Government, the State of Berlin and neighbourhood management (2022-2024). Project partner: Kitaverbund Brunnenviertel.
The funding carries previous projects with educational institutions in the district of Wedding/ Brunnenviertel forward, see also project report "Im Bündnis stark".
Partner school Hagenbeck-Schule
Partnership for the conservation of biodiversity
Since 2014, the Hagenbeck School has been a partner school of the Museum für Naturkunde. Both partners share the goal of preserving biodiversity and working with students to discover ways that protect it sustainably. The partnership with the Hagenbeck School is designed to be long-term and continuous, in which projects are developed in close cooperation between teachers and museum staff. Weekly working groups for school classes also provide insight into the work and career paths at a research museum. In addition, creative writing workshops are held in various formats, producing stories and poems connected to the museum's exhibits and the guiding principles of both institutions.
Further information: Hagenbeck-Schule
School lab network GenaU
Together for science education
The Museum für Naturkunde and its school lab, the Microscopy Centre, are members of the GenaU school lab network. The network brings together school labs at research institutions and universities in Berlin and Brandenburg.
Experimental courses for every age group and every STEM subject (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) are held for entire school classes and are supplemented by further working groups and training courses for teachers.
GenaU is funded by the Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family.
Further information: www.genau-bb.de
A world in motion – educational projects of the eight research museums
Together with partners inside and outside the Leibniz Association, innovative and sustainable formats for interpretation, dialogue and participation – analogue and digital – have been developed in eight museums, including the Museum für Naturkunde, as part of the "Action Plan Leibniz Research Museum". These formats address people of all ages, different origins and with diverse educational backgrounds.
Overview of the projects:
- twiddle – the museum riddle: A museum game for the museum visit
- MUSEUM; MIGRATION & ICH: Learning materials on the topic migration
- Leibniz-F.A.Z.- Eduction Competion: „A world in motion“
- International conference "Audience Development - Theory and Practice"
- Internship programme "Next Generation"
Special funding from the federal and state governments enabled the projects.
Discovering nature in the city with the app "Naturblick"
Green cities provide space for experiencing nature, recreation and various encounters. However, nature can only be appreciated and protected if we approach it with understanding and knowledge. In the BMU-funded project "Discovering nature in the city" new media and digital technologies are being developed and used to raise awareness of urban nature and to communicate environmental education digitally. The "Naturblick" app is geared to young adults exploring Berlin’s nature. Easy-to-use identification keys help you to recognise species and to strengthen the perception of one's own neighbourhood as a place of nature experience and one's own sustainable engagement. This involves the individual acquisition of knowledge and skills and the possibilities of lifelong learning with a focus on urban biodiversity.
Further Information: www.naturblick.naturkundemuseum.berlin
Projects with other cooperation partners:
Zeiterzähler*innen im Museum (Time storytellers in the museum)
Children from all-day care at elementary school and a neighborhood center of the Pestalozzi-Fröbel-Haus tell their own stories in animated films. They discover exciting historical exhibits in the Museum für Naturkunde and the Museum für Kommunikation and transport themselves to other eras. They link the objects and knowledge about past times with their own questions, experiences and wishes by writing storyboards, setting them to music and animating their stories using the layering technique. They are supported by the team from the Trickmisch - Das Mobile Sprachlabor initiative. Zeiterzähler*innen im Museum is a project of the Pestalozzi-Fröbel-Haus in cooperation with the Museum für Kommunikation, the Museum für Naturkunde and Jugend im Museum e.V.. A project of “Gemeinsam Digital! Creative with Media” of the German Library Association (dbv) as part of the ‘Kultur macht stark’ program of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
Stop-motion films from the Museum für Naturkunde and project documentation
The Museum also cooperates with following institutions and schools:
- Carl-Friedrich-von-Siemens-Gymnasium
- Gustav-Falke-Grundschule
- Grundschule am Koppenplatz
- Willy-Brandt-Teamschule
- SchuleEins Pankow
- Grundschule am Teutoburger Platz
- Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft (HTW) Berlin
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
- Universität Potsdam
- Volkshochschulen Mitte, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg und Neukölln