Geoscience Education for the Young Generation: mileko – The Mineralogical Science Kit

Geosciences only play a minor role in today’s German and Austrian school curricula, although being strongly related to important topics such as climate change and sustainability of resources. The Mineralogical Science Kit (Mineralogischer Lehrkoffer ‘mileko’) aims at bringing back geoscientific and mineralogical contents into STEAM-fields (science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics) by linking mineralogy to regular teaching subjects. In 5 different modules pupils can not only discover the world of rocks and minerals but also get an understanding of important principles and processes such as redox reactions when extracting copper from ore (chemistry), the density of rocks which can be linked to the structure of the Earth’s interior (physics, geography), or how the inner structure of materials affects their outer appearance by exploring natural crystalline bodies and their geometry (chemistry, mathematics). Since 2014, about 650 boxes were produced and sent to schools and museums all over Germany. 2020 marked the starting point for the implementation of a rent-a-scientist-program as well as a network of lending stations, where boxes can be borrowed by schools or be used to host workshops for teachers and pupils in-house. In 2021, the development of a video format is planned that will improve and expand the applicability of the Mineralogical Science Kit by presenting relevant geoscientific topics to a wider public. This new digital format combined with presence activities like workshops and school visits will enhance discussions between children, teachers and scientific experts resulting in knowledge transfer from the scientific community to the public.