EngageMINT: Transfer and communication of knowledge for environmentally aware young people to raise interest in STEM

In today’s world, addressing regional and global challenges increasingly requires advanced knowledge and skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). At the same time, students’ competencies in and willingness to engage with mathematical and scientific subjects in school have been steadily declining, resulting in a growing mismatch between societal demands and educational outcomes.

The EngageMINT project responds to this challenge by seeking to motivate young people to pursue education and careers in STEM through authentic insights into current research and scientific working practices. In parallel, the project systematically investigates how adolescents learn, with a particular focus on the interplay between personal interest profiles, competence development, and career intentions.

The overarching aim of EngageMINT is to develop and test a digital transfer method for communicating up-to-date research findings on environmental and climate issues, as well as innovative environmental technologies. This approach builds on young people’s emotionally driven interest in environmental topics and leverages their desire to engage with current environmental policy challenges as an entry point for fostering sustained interest in STEM subjects. A combination of digital tools and hands-on activities is used to connect real-world environmental problems with underlying scientific concepts and methods. Central to this approach is an online platform that supports the entire learning process. It is used throughout the workshop in which students acquire foundational knowledge, assemble and program a measurement device, design and conduct experiments, analyse the resulting data, and present their findings.

EngageMINT is a collaborative project involving the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS), Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (IPN), and the Institute of Education at the Leibniz University Hannover (LUH). TROPOS contributes with its expertise in air quality research by providing scientific content and leading the technical implementation of the transfer tool, including the development of the measurement platform. Within the sub-project “Competence Development and Feedback,” the IPN designs and implements online learning modules featuring integrated feedback systems and gamification elements embedded in the project platform. The LUH conducts the sub-project “Interest Profiles and Social Exchange,” which develops a self-assessment tool to tailor research content to individual interest profiles and provides cooperative learning materials. The accompanying evaluation analyses the effects of the transfer tool on young people’s scientific competence development, as well as on their attitudes towards and intentions to pursue future careers in STEM fields.