“The Odysseum is a wonderful mix of German museum and Disneyworld”: WDR 2. “Wonderland for little Einsteins”: Bild Köln. “An adventure land with savvy”: General-Anzeiger Bonn. “A clever clone of the theme park”: Kölnische Rundschau. “Fun becomes educational”: Welt am Sonntag.
Learning is child’s play. That is the goal of the knowledge-adventure park Odysseum in Cologne. “Education starts as early as pre-school age,” explains Thomas Puy-Brill, Managing Director of Odysseum. “In Odysseum we offer the whole family the chance to combine fun and knowledge. Learning isn’t a cumbersome obligation, but goes hand in hand, so to speak.”
It is the goal of phæno in Wolfsburg to open new gateways to the theme-related world of science and technology. Phenomena are revealed using intuitive sympathy, where there is no desire to know about theory. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe knew this when he wrote: “Do not look for anything behind phenomena; they are themselves their own lesson.” phæno is meant to be fun. Only those who are eager to learn, learn properly.
The idea of allowing people to experience scientific findings in a museum in a playful manner was first implemented by physicist Frank Oppenheimer in 1969 – in the “Exploratorium” in San Francisco. And it was also implemented in Heilbronn. On 14 November 2009 the experimenta was inaugurated. “We want to increase interest with our choice of facilities for children and teenagers and try to quench the children’s thirst for knowledge,” says Dr. Thomas Wendt, Educational Manager at experimenta. The grounds have been in full use since 27/11/2009. In the presence of numerous representatives of the regional and local press, on this date, SmartUs Parcours of the playground equipment manufacturer Lappset was handed over to its users. And it was never to be the same again. On this date, classes from the neighbouring primary school came running into the establishment enthusiastic and they were hooked straightaway. “It is always nice to see how quickly and intuitively the SmartUs Parcours is accepted. I’m sure that the numerous visitors to experimenta can really run riot after their visit to the science centre,” states Ulrich Scheffler, Managing Director of Lappset Deutschland GmbH. Besides: To present date experimenta has been played on over 21,000 times.
“We in the parks and gardens department of the town of Heilbronn had our attention drawn to the new “Smart-Us” items of play equipment by Lappset via an article by Thomas Müller in a trade magazine. As we conceived the outdoor facilities for our “experimenta", it immediately sprung to mind for us to integrate this innovative, interactive play facility into the so-called “talent garden” of experimenta. At that point in time there was also the opportunity for the Heilbronner Bürgerstiftung (Heilbronn community foundation) to promote a corresponding project for children and teenagers. On mutual inspection of facilities in Dortmund’s Westfalenpark, combined with an intensive test of play opportunities, it was decided that “Smart-Us” should be installed with experimenta. With the official delivery to experimenta in November 2009, the facilities were received by teenagers with enthusiasm,” says Hans-Peter Barz, Manager of the parks and gardens department of the town of Heilbronn.
Dietmar Fütterer of Heilbronner Bürgerstiftung (Heilbronn Community Foundation) is convinced by the “learning and exercise” combination: “As a community foundation we are committed to a wide spectrum of child-support activities where we still focus on the provision of services for the area of youth/education and training, e.g. with comprehensive violence prevention measures (Bündnis gegen Gewalt (Anti-Violence Alliance)) and extensive promotion of talking and reading. Appealing, meaningful leisure activities are important components in encouraging children and teenagers, which is why we have also financed age-based items of play equipment in the past. The item of play equipment “smartUs” by Lappset is a very innovative item which joins together the “playful learning and physical exercise” in an excellent way. In contrast to akinesia and the many overweight people who can be seen, this combination is very important. As it is self-programmable, it can also be used by schools for learning purposes. In addition, it also enables contests with other towns and other countries. experimenta is a fascinating world of learning and experiences for children and teenagers, offering them special access to science and technology. For the item of play equipment "smartUs", experimenta’s location outside (talent garden) is just about ideal.”
Dr. Wolfgang Hansch, Managing Director of experimenta gGmbH: “experimenta is not a museum in the traditional sense, where exhibits would just lay there still. In our world of learning and experience, everything can be touched and tried out. Science and technology can be discovered in a playful manner. Complementing our exhibition in the building nicely are the large exhibits on the open areas such as the computer-operated play station Smartus by Lappset. It combines games and exercise in an ideal way. Times tables or chemical formula – the play station complements our talent garden excellently, because, true to experimenta’s motto: discover – experience – perceive. Older and younger visitors experience with us what some consider as a squaring of the circle: In experimenta and on the open-air grounds, learning is supposed to be fun and be a lasting experience.”
Play and experimentation are innate in humans, and they are identical even in the early stages of human development. Almost everything that small children do is both experimentation and playing. It relies on wanting to discover by yourself. Only those who get involved by touching, get to see something. Playing on the playground and learning and discovering in the museum are meant to be a lasting experience.
Universum Bremen (Universe Bremen) – A park for the discoverer
Arousing interest, causing surprise and amazement and provoking questions – that is the educational concept of Universum. Why don’t we have a volcano in the garden? Do all people look the same? What is behind the moon? Universum offers individual, varied ways of looking at and exploring scientific aspects. By doing so, their own experiences create the point of origin for cognitive processes. Universum is a competency centre for exploratory, probing learning. Children, pupils, senior citizens and families can get close to sciences in a playful manner. Teachers, nursery nurses and educationalist will cite this method of learning and learn how this can be integrated into their professional, everyday life.
The goal is to establish a combination of theory-based education, school and nursery practice and an action-prompted intensive place of learning. Supporting a network of schools, day-care centres and nurseries, universities, artists, craftspeople, handcrafters and companies in the region. Presenting a communication and cooperation centre for nursery nurses and teachers, parents and all others involved and interested in education. Serving as a creative research laboratory and place for pilot schemes and model projects.
The human is the focus of discovery and exploratory learning. He determines, proves and reflects his educational path independently.
Discovering and observing natural phenomena – thus, the Science Centre of Universum Bremen, distinguished nationwide, was extended with a “discovery park”: From the publicly accessible vestibule with a forum for events visitors are led over a waterway with cascades on the promenade to the – chargeable – area of the discovery park. The orthogonally shaped promenade acts as a stage for exhibits which are temporary and arranged “diversely”. Among other things, two corten steel boxes are positioned and in their darkened rooms the “Aqua Mystica” and “Camera Obscura” surprise the visitors. The adjoining areas of the discovery park link the park to a birch copse. A central design is the “cairn” to group together other areas of experience and exhibits, opened up by the course path. The forum at the banks of the Fleet and the water world, in conjunction with the ‘Wasserachse’ waterway, are connected.
The park-like shaped, oscillating landscape course up to the university canal is formed as a place of activity and exercise. This is where the company Richter Spielgeräte GmbH was a leader. It becomes theme specific through the water world with water cascades, different play elements with and in the water, the forest path and the cairn. The latter comprises domains of experience on the topic of geology – different stones and soil. Phenomena such as erosion or experience of different temperatures dependant on the exposure and degree of hardness of different rocks can be experienced. The gorge, sectioned by the cairn, leads to the “course forum”, a circular-arranged location with tiered seating. This is where special shows and screenings take place regularly, presenting mainly physical phenomena.
The “Feeling + Experience” landscape in the “Fleet meadow” offers space for further experiences of the bodily senses, such as the feet-feel-path and water experiments at the Wasserachse. On walking around the cairn, visitors will find a large water bell in which you can stand under the (water) dome and not get your feet wet. As a striking example of architecture, the “Tower of the Skies” applies another “exclamation mark”: Exhibits and experiments on the topics of weather, climate and gravitation are offered here. Because of its distinctiveness as Germany’s first “open-air-phenomenon-museum” the new discovery park is used particularly by school classes, nurseries and other educational establishments all year round.
In the planning of the extension of the Science Centre at Universum Bremen with a pavilion and a discovery park, a contest was organised throughout Europe. Teams of architects and landscape architects were eligible. The first prize winner – the consortium of architectures Haslob Kruse and Partner and planungsgruppe grün – Köhler Sprötge Storz – were entrusted with the planning and building inspection.
“Learning is experiencing, everything else is information.”
(Albert Einstein)
Witches’ playground
There is no science and technology at the castle of Penzlin. However, the witches’ playground at the Alten Burg Penzlin (Penzlin Castle) and the cultural-historical specialist museum for the history of wizardry and witchcraft and the witch-hunting eras in Mecklenburg are worth a visit. The main focus for younger guests is the attractive witches’ playground, which forecloses the theme of the museum. An unusual receptionist, a very old witch who welcomes you, waits at the border. She has poor eyesight, but a fine scent like the animals – like in the fairytale “Hänsel and Gretel” by the Grimm brothers. She smells it when people approach. In addition, magical shapes pop out from all corners and ends of the witches’ wall. It comprises a witch’s tree house, a cable car for the witches’ flight; a devil’s carousel and cat swing await the younger visitors to the museum, and the climbing combinations and a sand table promise lots of fun and play. Manufacturer Spielart GmbH from Laucha was able to realise the witches’ tree house. hammerWerksvertretung from Kloster Lehnin adopted the installation of the all-wood-manufacturer equipment. The product was aided using structural funds from the European Union in the framework of the community initiative Leader +. Further help came from the Jost-Reinhold foundation and the State Ministry of Agriculture. Funds from the district youth welfare office and donations to the Burgfest (castle festival) support the financing of the playground.
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