Close-up: Students from the teacher-training programme for primary education visit Utrecht University

The Utrecht University Science Hub offers students, who are training to become primary school teachers, practical science education for the classroom in partnership with HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, Marnix College and the Academic Teacher-Training Programme for primary education. Students will be better equipped to teach their pupils about science if they have a more realistic understanding of the subject. 

Science still has a bit of an image problem. People tend to imagine researchers are isolated from the outside world, working on complicated things in dark rooms. I'm taking part to show them that science actually isn't boring or complicated at all. I'm also trying to show them that being a researcher is actually a really creative job where you get to do lots of different things and use your curiosity to find solutions to society's problems. I want to inspire future teachers and their pupils to talk about science more during lessons, so that they discover how important it is to all the processes in our daily lives

Most primary schools aren't really focused on research; the teachers just aren't familiar with it, and it hasn't been a priority due to COVID-19. The project will see teacher-training students develop 10 lessons on Science & Technology for their placement school. That can inspire participating schools to devote more attention to science.

Text: Eline Dondorp