STEAM Hub Siemensstadt Square
Siemens Stiftung's Think and Do Tank
Siemensstadt Square – a new digital, sustainable and energy-efficient urban district under development in Berlin – will provide a venue for future-focused visions and innovation. Siemens Stiftung’s STEAM Hub (German: MINT-Hub) will offer spaces for young people to learn and design together. As a Think and Do Tank, the STEAM Hub will facilitate a transfer of knowledge between local and global educational practice, bringing international best practice to schools and establishing sustainability and a digital culture in the district.
Working Area:
Education
Region/Country:
»Through our STEAM Hub, we are nurturing the skills needed to develop innovative solutions in the digital age.«
STEAM approach is key to responsible co-creation
New teaching approaches in STEM education are essential if we are to promote pupils’ and students’ ability to build a better future. Especially in the digital age, citizens require skills that enable them to engage with creative processes and solve individual problems with the capacity to innovate. After all, personal, empathetic and emotional communication cannot be automated. With this in mind, we always take a holistic STEAM approach, focusing on values and creating a culture of creativity and participation.
Think Tank promotes glocal and interdisciplinary knowledge transfer
As a Think Tank, we concentrate on networking local and global education practice with science, business, civil society and politics. In addition, we establish international and local networks in an effort to inspire practitioners with innovative strategies and forward-looking success factors. Not only does this approach lead to strategic projects and programs, the operational insights it generates constantly enrich the discourse at the Think Tank and its partner institutions at Siemensstadt Square.
International networks inspire local projects
Do Tank establishes international best practices
As a Do Tank, Siemens Stiftung establishes best practices within Siemensstadt Square and puts the Think Tank’s innovative ideas and concepts into practice. We integrate operational projects in collaboration with different actors from educational practice, science and civil society. This allows us to open up various prospects for the future, tailored to the needs of Siemensstadt Square along the entire education chain. Our long-term goal is to encourage a growth mindset and promote educational justice and equal opportunity.
Our goal is to create a growth mindset and equal opportunity
STEM Make@thon: Active on issues of the future
Students in grades 9 to 13 engage on topics important for our future in the “Make@thon” program. Accompanied by mentors, the participants work independently in small groups to find solutions that are scientific and creative. The project is complemented by a wide range of workshops, and exciting lectures, culminating in a prize distribution ceremony. As an extracurricular concept, the Make@thons promote education for sustainable development and social participation among young people. The series of events takes place as part of the STEAM Hub Siemensstadt Square. The Make@thon is conducted by scientists from the University of Osnabrück and funded by Siemens Stiftung. Siemens Professional Education supports the project.In 2022, two Make@thons focused on the topics “Future of Food” and “Mobility of Tomorrow”. The Make@thon “Sustainable Textiles” took place in June 2023, followed by the challenge “Energizing the Future” in November.
Design Thinking in STEM for schools at Siemensstadt Square
Our Design Thinking in STEM project helps young people to acquire crucial future skills, such as creative problem solving, the ability to innovate, collaboration and empathy. In order to implement this internationally proven project in Germany, Siemens Stiftung has been working with the Potsdam-based Hasso Plattner Institute/School of Design Thinking since the fall of 2021 to develop an approach suitable for STEM teaching staff. This will be implemented in schools in Siemensstadt and the local area from the spring of 2022. It will focus on tackling specific issues revolving around Siemensstadt Square. The interdisciplinary STEM teaching content and the hybrid teaching and learning formats concentrate on the topics of health and climate change.
KiQ – Working together for daycare quality
When discovering and exploring become part of everyday life! This is the motto of “Haus der kleinen Forscher” foundation’s new “KiQ” program, which supports daycare teams in making discovery and research-based learning with children an integral part of their everyday work. In terms of holistic development support, educators also learn how to combine early STEM education with other educational areas such as language instruction or sustainability. Starting in fall 2023, Berlin daycare centers in and around Siemensstadt Square will have the opportunity to participate in the training program, which will last several months. An event on the KIQ project took place in January 2023. The two-month application pahse for participation in the programme starts in March 2023. More information can be found here:
Digital Maker-Space: Extracurricular STEM Space
The “Digital Maker-Space” project creates spaces for collaborative teaching and learning focusing on STEM + Digitality, STEM + Climate, and STEM + Health. Both analog and digital activities, workshops, and training sessions encourage reflection on how our culture and society are changing due to increasing digitalization. A special emphasis is placed on promoting participation and equity, especially in diverse neighborhoods. Educators receive subject-specific guidance on how to effectively integrate new digital tools into their teaching.
Teacher training sessions on inquiry-based learning in STEM
Together with the Carl-Friedrich-von-Siemens-Gymnasium, we offer training sessions at Siemensstadt Square for teaching staff in primary and secondary education on the topic of Experimento, our international education program. Prominent topics include independent experimentation, research and comprehension of natural phenomena and technical developments in heterogeneous classes in relation to the environment, energy and health. The training places a particular focus on the latest insights into global challenges, such as the greenhouse effect, the use of renewable energy and drinking water supplies. It alternates between digital and analog experimentation phases in a blended learning format. In the interests of expanding STEM thinking, the training sessions cover inquiry-based learning and, depending on the target audience, value education, inclusion, conscious language use in teaching and computational thinking.
Digital Maker Space: Extracurricular STEM Space
A Digital Maker Space in the STEAM Hub creates room for collaborative teaching and learning. Analog and digital activities, workshops and further training for teachers and students encourage agile and creative STEM teaching and support teachers in integrating innovative digital tools and applications into their teaching in a didactically meaningful way.
The concept is developed in a co-creative process together with teachers and other educational stakeholders.
All activities at a glance can be found in our brochure
All activities in the STEAM Hub Siemensstadt Square are supported by the Berlin Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family. In addition, we would like to thank Siemens Professional Education and the project team at Siemensstadt Square for their support in the implementation of STEAM activities at Siemensstadt Square.
Christine Niewöhner
christine.niewoehner@siemens-stiftung.org
+49 89 540487 119
STEM education on the topics of climate, digital technology and health
You can find other fascinating STEM projects supported by the Siemens Stiftung in Germany along with an overview of our international education networks in our project overview.