Bringing science teaching into the real world

EU-funded researchers are exploring new ways to learn that make science more relevant to everyday life – and more fun

By Andrew Dunne 

Frank Täufer, a scientific assistant at Campus Wiesengut – the University of Bonn’s ecological teaching and research farm – asked a group of visiting 8-year-olds to speculate on why the rye plants in his field were all different heights. He was surprised by their insightful range of responses. 

Some of the children suggested that the...