Research

Start and Act

The project “StAct – Start and Act” takes its starting point from the original meaning of the word “entreprendre”, which translates to “to undertake something”. It focuses on social and inclusive entrepreneurship in the digital world. Children and young people are empowered to express their ideas in self-directed research projects. In StAct, we provide a lump-sum grant of 1,000 euros for educators. This “collaboration grant” aims to enable children to engage with exciting topics in science and technology and to take on the role of researchers themselves.

NextGenLab

The research project nextgen*LAB deals with gender-sensitive technology-education and asks what role the techLAB, the museum Maker*Space of the Technical Museum Vienna, can play in getting young people – especially young women* – excited about digital technologies and thus can contribute to their professional orientation. Within the framework of the project, essential factors were identified that make it possible to design a Maker*Space in a gender-sensitive way.

Parents and STEM

When it comes to mastering the challenges of digitalisation, the keyword “STEM”^[1] is often mentioned. This reflects on those competences that have an influence on how individual participation opportunities in current technological innovations are shaped. Parents, the most important door openers for their children into STEM professions, are completely neglected in these discussions. E-MINT uses the Science Capital model, which translates Pierre Bourdieu’s cultural theory into the 21st century, to empower parents in their significant role.

[1] Science, Technoloy, Engineering, Mathematics

RoboGen - Robots and Gender

Gender-sensitive technology design must be understood as part of the social construction processes of gender, in which stereotypes materialise directly in the artefacts. It is not surprising that even subtle cues play a decisive role in which contexts or for which tasks robots are preferred. Even the name of the robot can decide whether it is more likely to be trusted with a task in care or in industry. RoboGen focuses on the gender-sensitive design of a social robot.

CEPNET (Children's Empowerment in Primary school Network).

The CEPNET project is developing a model for elementary school that combines the two levels of teaching on-site and in the digital world in an innovative way. The focus is on the students, their needs and interests. The aim is to guide a self-directed learning process in which the topics – framed by the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals – that are important and interesting to them, can be selected freely, explored and researched, and finally presented to the public and to stakeholders.

REMENT – Reverse Mentoring in Schools

The reverse mentoring approach offers a completely new perspective in equal opportunities for girls in technology. With the reverse mentoring approach, we did not focus on the (supposed) deficits of girls and young women, but on their undoubted competences in this field. Girls became mentors for their teachers. rement not only contributed to increasing ICT competences on individual levels, but also provided starting points for deconstructing gender stereotypes in technology.