The learning workshop
The Lernwerkstatt (learning workshop) for science and engineering education of the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences is a space for interactive exploration and discovery. Here, scientific phenomena can be experienced and inquired first-hand by children and adults alike. During opening hours all visitors are welcome and the space is supervised by a tutor who will be happy to help.
The learning workshop hosts seminars from the Early Childhood Education study programme focusing on early science and engineering education. We also occasionally welcome visits from groups of children from daycare centres and schools.
Pedagogical approach
The Lernwerkstatt’s pedagogical approach is rooted in a socio-cultural perspective on science and engineering. This perspective views these disciplines as practices embedded in communities, where shared values, norms, and ways of knowing are developed through participation.
The design and methods of the Lernwerkstatt are informed by two key educational frameworks:
- inquiry-based science education (cf. NRC 1996, 2000; Rocard et al., 2007), which emphasizes the process of discovery and knowledge-building over the mere acquisition of facts;
- three-dimensional learning framework (cf. National Research Council, 2012; NGSS, Lead States 2013), which integrates core ideas, practices, and crosscutting concepts to foster learners' deeper understanding.
The workshop’s materials are carefully selected to provide diverse opportunities for inquiry and sensemaking (cf. Bruner, 1996; Odden & Russ, 2018). These everyday materials become tools for semiotic mediation (cf. Vygotsky, 1934/1962), bridging everyday knowledge and culturally established scientific understanding within a community of inquiry (cf. Schifter, 1996).
Learners are encouraged to take an active role in their education: they formulate their own questions about natural phenomena or solutions to technical problems, plan and conduct simple investigations, design solutions and develop empirically based explanations or problem-solving strategies.
Beyond an often misunderstood centrality of experimentation, this educational approach emphasise the cultural practices of argumentation (cf. Osborne et al., 2004) and modeling (cf. Valeeva et al., 2023 for a recent overview). Modeling, in particular, is a central, characteristic practice in science and technology that enables learners to represent and refine their understanding of complex systems (cf. Windschitl et al., 2008; Passmore et al., 2009; Lehrer & Schauble, 2015).
Activities
- Seminars in the early childhood education degree programs at ASH Berlin
- Professional development units for educators from daycare centres and elementary schools
- Workshops on scientific and technical topics for young children (daycare and elementary school groups)
- Developing and testing of innovative teaching and learning formats in the context of science and technology education in early childhood
Who uses the Lernwerkstatt?
- Students of the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences Berlin (especially seminars/lectures of the degrees programme early childhood education)
- Daycare and elementary school children from Berlin
- Educators from daycare centers and elementary schools
- Academics from Germany and other countries as part of research and development activities
- Lernwerkstatt practitioners from various networks
Our Youtube channel
With exciting videos on amazing natural phenomena - check it out here!
Other useful links
Our materials and books
Photographic documentation of the learning materials in the learning workshop.
Catalogue of books and print media in the learning workshop.
Other videos
These films were developed by other institutions, no liability is assumed for their content.
Contact and Team
Scientific director: Prof. Francesco Cuomo
Tutors: Karim Assaf, Lea Kersten, Leon Lönnedonker
Mail
Lernwerkstatt - Alice Salomon Hochschule Berlin
Alice-Salomon-Platz 5
12627 Berlin
Email: teamlernwerkstatt@ ash-berlin.eu
Telefon: 030 - 99 24 53 66
