The title “SoMoSt” comes from “Sonne Mond und Sterne” – German for “Sun, Moon and Stars”. This project is a full year program to engage nursery teachers in teaching natural sciences at kindergarden and day care centres.

Together with the university of Innsbruck (Young University, Institute for Ecology) and the national office for Kindergarden paedagics, scientists are working to give an insight into space science, especially with a view towards biology (astrobiology). Children as young as 4 – 6 years old are the target group of this project. With workshops, teaching material, science days, excursion to a planetarium and other methods their enthusiasm for science and space is awakened. Member of the forum have turned this enthusiasm into their profession – reason enough, for the second mayor of Innsbruck to pay a visit and let himself be caught by the children’s motivation.

The project gets financial support from the ministry of sciences as part of the “Sparkling Science Intitiative”. It has also won a € 2.000 price, which will be invested into new teaching materials. The final event of this project is going to take place on the 30th of June – on “Rocket Day” children will get a chance to build and launch their own (water) rockets, and also get a guided tour around the Institute of Astro- and Particle Physics at the University. The teachers will present their new teaching materials and methods.

Some feedback from the children (Kindergarden Haspingerstrasse, Innsbruck):

• “That was great to see that toilet paper flies around in an airplane, if you do not hold on to it!“
• “It’s strange that people are flying around there (in a zero G environment) – but I’d like to be able putting on a space suit!.”
• “The planets did sound like my heart” (Note: this comes from the project “Astronomy with all senses.

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