Published on 01.03.2022 under Education, STEM education
Broad visibility for STEM
MINT"MINTvernetzt" & zdi.NRW – two projects, one mission
What connects MINTvernetzt and zdi.NRW? What makes them different? And how can STEM education have even more impact and reach?
Stephanie Kowitz-Harms, head of MINTvernetzt (service and contact point for MINT actors in Germany) and Magdalena Hein, project manager zdi.NRW, member of the management of the matrix group, talk about goals, measures and the joy of working together.
The conversation as text:
MINT"MINTvernetzt"
Stephanie Kowitz-Harms: MINTvernetzt is Germany's new MINT networking point. We started last year and want to bring together the whole picture of STEM education outside of school. You all know that there is an incredibly broad commitment in Germany: student research centers, fab labs and companies, as well as teachers who are committed to getting students excited about STEM outside of the classroom. We want to bring this field together, create a nationwide umbrella, network actors, exchange ideas, learn from and with each other and ensure that hopefully all children and young people in Germany then get a good STEM education.
zdi.NRW
Magdalena Hein: zdi.NRW has been building a very broad NRW-wide network of extracurricular STEM education for over 15 years. This is a very, very individual accompaniment of the 47 zdi networks that now exist, i.e. there are MINT locations everywhere in NRW that network. In addition to these places, there is now also a very broad student laboratory landscape. That's more than 70 places to learn and experience. So a colorful variety here in NRW too and it's simply about strengthening this network, the local actors. That's a lot of work, but a lot of great work that we do together with the wonderful actors all over NRW.
Together for MINT
Stephanie Kowitz-Harms: Magdalena, I think we still have a lot of big things planned for this year. 2022 has only just begun. We started with many new ideas, with tailwind, the federal election is behind us. Hopefully we can look forward to four years in which we will also receive a lot of support at federal level, but will also continue to work very intensively with the state network in North Rhine-Westphalia. And I think it's the topics that concern us together: creating visibility for STEM actors in the state but also nationwide and I think what also strongly connects us: making girls, young women in STEM much more visible and them Above all, to inspire even more and to win over the long term for MINT professions, right?
Magdalena Hein: Exactly, and I think that's also part of bringing STEM into broad contexts. These are buzzwords like knowledge transfer, we also call it MINTplus, generating new perspectives. This is something that we tackle together and that we work together very intensively at certain points, because that way we create more relevance, because we get a larger reach and also more impact for STEM.
MINT"MINTvernetzt" & zdi.NRW create synergies
The question arises for everyone, in my federal state, in my region I have a really great offer, why should I now also participate in the large MINTnetworked community and be interested in the structures that are being built there, and get involved? I think it's very important to broaden my horizons for lots of great offers, for backgrounds from other regions that I'm not really aware of. I see a very, very large added value from MINTvernetzt. Bringing these different actors and multipliers together, finding and identifying topics: What is current at the moment? What can I get out of the broad knowledge at federal level.
Stephanie Kowitz-Harms: Well, if I'm a STEM player in NRW, then there's no other solution than getting involved with zdi. This is a state-wide network that offers networking down to the smallest of places and this knowledge that is available, on the one hand, which I can access, also the funding opportunities and also the exchange, which I can find far and wide in North Rhine-Westphalia also quite locally in the individual zdi network. So if you don't use it in North Rhine-Westphalia, it's really your own fault.
More visibility for STEM education
Magdalena Hein: I also believe that we have to make the contact points visible to many. Because the scene finds itself in this way and also gets new points and information, we create a broader visibility of MINT offers, we will also work very hard on it this year - not only digitally, but maybe also here and there in presence - to get together I think it's also important for the actors and for all of us to be in direct contact again and to achieve a matching.
Stephanie Kowitz-Harms: I think that's a very important topic. These are encounters that we all long for. We are planning MINT action days again for autumn. We did that last year, and there were many zdi actors there too, including you as the state network. An annual conference is planned for the winter and I don't want to deviate from the plan that it will then take place in person again. So I'm looking forward to meeting up in person again – but hopefully before then.
You can find out more about zdi.NRW here: https://zdi-portal.de/
You can find out more about MINTvernetzt here: https://mint-vernetzt.de/
