Rethinking education

The Kathinka Platzhoff Foundation sees itself as a forward-looking companion for people of all generations in Hanau. One of its main areas of focus is STEM education for children and young people: science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

We are committed to rethinking education. That is why we are always on the lookout for innovative formats – such as the miri learning centre. With its immersive approach, it allows learners to really dive into the topic at hand and makes the content directly comprehensible. This enables us to reach even those who may not be interested in STEM education at first glance.

What does the utilisation concept look like?

Our concept has three pillars:

1. Firstly, miri is open to everyone during opening hours – no registration or supervision required. You enter the room, choose a learning journey and get started. All learning journeys deliberately combine digital elements with the analogue world of the library – two perspectives on a topic create more depth.
   
   In one learning journey, Kari the seal accompanies children on the path of rubbish – from the Kinzig to the North Sea. The topic is circular economy and environmental protection. The other journey is about ‘My digital self and me’. Avatars show children what happens on the internet when they navigate it and what traces they leave behind. We are developing another topic together with the community.
    
2.  The second pillar is supervised workshops for primary school classes. Here, too, we combine immersive digital experiences with the analogue possibilities of the library.
    
3. And thirdly, we want to develop content for miri together with other educational stakeholders in Hanau, such as teachers, the environmental centre or the Hanau media centre. We have purchased a school licence for the ThingLink software. This makes it very easy to create content for miri's 270-degree projection. miri is our contribution to an education that invites and opens doors wide for everyone.