Salzburg sisters develop award-winning science teaching materials

Two sisters from Salzburg have developed award-winning science materials for primary school pupils. Their programme, Spürnasen Primary, is already being used in nine schools, ORF reported.

Caroline Neudecker, a teacher, and her sister Christine, a biologist, created lesson plans, research materials, technical equipment, an app and training for teachers. They say the programme is designed to share their enthusiasm for nature and science with children.

The sisters believe children are natural researchers, collectors and technologists. Spürnasen Primary encourages pupils to investigate questions that arise in everyday life, such as why the sky is blue or why rainbows have different colours.

Inclusion is central to the programme: the sisters want children to take part regardless of gender, background or prior education. Pupils begin by forming a question or hypothesis, choose a method, set up an experiment and then assess with their teachers whether the evidence supports their question.