STEM plus arts activities during the autumn break
The holidays are a great time to relax, travel or explore new things. That is why we have put together a list of activities for everyone staying in Berlin and interested in mathematics, engineering, natural sciences, technology or art (the focus of our school).
Deutsches Technikmuseum
Discover the history of technology at the Deutsches Technikmuseum (German Museum of Technology) while exploring the fascinating exhibitions on aviation, shipping, railways, the automobile industry, film technology, computer history, and much more. Led by the motto “touching allowed”, visitors will find aeroplanes, sensory illusions, rotating houses and exciting experiments on the 26,500 m² area of a former factory and railway station.
The Deutsches Technikmuseum is one of Berlin’s most famous museums and definitely worth the visit also for those curious about engineering, inventions and the machines that pioneered our world today. Vehicle enthusiasts can see the Douglas C-47B Skytrain sultana bomber, the saloon car of Kaiser Wilhem II and the Tante Ju commercial aircraft. Daily demonstrations, hands-on activities and guided tours make this museum a place of interactive learning and experience.
Science Centre Spectrum
The Science Centre Spectrum offers children of all ages and adults, too, great hands-on experiences while having fun learning about the fundamentals of science. It offers more than 150 interactive exhibits, one being the student laboratory where “historic experiments can be conducted in a historic location”. That sounds awesome, right? The experiments have all been developed by Spectrum’s staff. Some of them are easy to figure out, and some of them not so much. Explore and be amazed!
“Dark universe” event at the Zeiss Planetarium
The Zeiss-Großplanetarium is one of the most modern and largest stellar theatres in Europe. As part of their programme, the “Dark universe” event lets visitors explore the secrets of the cosmos and find out what discoveries have led us to the great cosmic riddles over the past century. See the network of dark matter, listen to the “echo” of the Big Bang, learn about the exciting future of science, space exploration and more!
Futurium
The Futurium is the perfect place to visit for those interested in how technology and engineering will shape the future. In the exhibition on the upper floor visitors can find three large “thinking rooms” that focus on our future relationship with technology, nature and ourselves. It presents different futures, all revolving around discussions based on the core question of “How do we want to live?”.
There is also the Futurium Lab, located in the basement of the building, which serves as a place for experimentation, participation and self-development. Here you can engage in a future workshop with 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC milling machines and robot arms and witness the works of state-of-the-art engineering. Now that is cool!
Improve the World with Maths?
This is the kind of question being tackled by mathematicians at MATH+, the Berlin Mathematics Research Centre. As the world becomes more complex and digitisation is advancing, “Improve the World with Maths?” is a short programme to discuss how major challenges can be solved with the help of math. An hour and a half sounds like a great time to tickle the left hemisphere of your brain.
Museum for Contemporary Art: Hamburger Bahnhof
Hamburger Bahnhof is the former terminus of the Berlin-Hamburg railway that serves as a contemporary art museum, the Museum für Gegenwart, and is part of the Berlin National Gallery. The national gallery’s permanent collection features major figures and movements in art since 1960.
Since the opening of the museum in 1996, the presentation of the Marx Collection, with magnificent works by artists including Joseph Beuys, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg and Cy Twombly, has been of particular importance. It is one thing to see their works in magazines and blogs but a whole different experience seeing them in person!
Berlinische Galerie
The Berlinische Galerie is one of the newest museums in Berlin and includes art dating from 1870 to the present day. Fine art including paintings, graphics and sculpture, as well as photography, architecture and artists’ archives offer a rich source of information that will surely create exciting dialogues among visitors. Its outstanding collections include Dada Berlin, the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity) and the Eastern European avant-garde.
We hope this information helps to plan a fun day, or a weekend, spent with your children. If you are looking to find more information on how science, technology, engineering, arts and maths is implemented at schools, take a look at our blog post STEM profile schools or make an appointment with us.