Researchers' World/"Forscherwelt"

How to encourage children to take up science? Get them interested young! A love of science starts in childhood. Through Henkel’s “Forscherwelt” ‏(Researchers’ World) education initiative, children discover the thrill of scientific experimentation. They become little researchers and get a playful introduction into science’s secrets. The initiative’s patron is Dr. Simone Bagel-Trah, Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board and the Shareholders’ Committee at Henkel. The international education initiative is looking back at more than ten successful years. More than 91,000 children around the world have already taken part in this initiative, playfully discovering scientific secrets by conducting a variety of experiments.

The “Forscherwelt” concept

• In 2011, Henkel set up a dedicated “Forscherwelt” center in Düsseldorf that is tailored to children’s needs. In this area, children can take on the role of a researcher.
• Since then, the education initiative has become global. There are "Forscherwelt projects" in North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia.
• “Forscherwelt” has a different set-up from a conventional school science lab: there is an experimentation zone, a rest area and a designated space for exercise and discussion.
• A spatial concept creates an atmosphere in which the children feel at ease and enjoy an ideal environment for learning through play.
• Internationally, “Forscherwelt” is established at selected Henkel sites and schools under its slogan of “Act like a scientist.”
• Outside of Germany, trained teachers have been visiting schools since 2014 to conduct scientific experiments together with the children there.
• In addition, “Forscherwelt” has been intensifying its cooperation with established partners in the field of education since 2018.

Researchers’ World initiative in India

In India, the Researchers’ World initiative was launched in December 2017. The initiative is funded vide Henkel India’s CSR budget. The beneficiaries of any CSR initiative in the country have to be from needy communities. Thus, for the first time in Henkel’s experience, this initiative is being conducted for underprivileged students studying in Government/ Municipal schools.

We have tied up with EDREST, an NGO, to execute this initiative. In September 2017, six teachers from the NGO were trained at our lab by the Global Head of the Researchers’ World initiative, Dr. Ute Krupp.

Since the launch of this initiative, these trained teachers have conducted experiments with students of 6 Navi Mumbai Municipal schools in Marathi/ Hindi from grades 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th. Considering that these schools do not have labs, these teachers carry the equipment and material required to conduct these experiments to the schools and the students conduct experiments in groups in their own classrooms.