Science communication with children and teenagers
With "University for Children", the University of Bonn has long offered university programmes specifically tailored to children.
At the Chair of Social Ethics, we also offer other formats for young researchers, which are now combined under the SciCom with Kids and Teens programme.
Together, we explore robots, ask questions about medical ethics and consider what justice actually is – always in a way that makes abstract questions tangible for young researchers and ensures that the fun of learning together is not neglected.
SciCom with kids: Why we practise research with kids
Bild © Social Ethics Department - University Bonn / YouTube
SciCom with kids: We are shaping the future!
Bild © Social Ethics Department - University Bonn / YouTube
In July 2024, for example, the children's workshop at the Women's Museum visited us and we spent a day researching the topic ‘We are shaping the future’.
You can see everything we did that day in the video.
Why do we practise science communication with children and teenagers?
Science communication for children and with children builds on children's fundamental interest and innate curiosity about the world. Children ask questions, are eager to learn and want to get to the bottom of things. Science wants the same thing – it thrives on asking questions, finding things out and critically probing.
Together with children, we want to ask how a good life can be achieved equally for all and what conditions need to be created for this. Questions about responsibility, participation and the use of new technologies and media are relevant here.
Especially in the present day, with its many crises ranging from wars and climate change to fake news and online hate, it is sometimes difficult – not only for children – to know who is telling the truth and what information can be trusted.
Ethical principles can prove helpful in this regard and offer guidance for assessing actions correctly. Learning and practising critical questioning in particular is an important goal of science communication.
How can science communication with children and teenagers be successful?
Appropriate communication, presentation and preparation of knowledge (science) contributes significantly to children acquiring knowledge, but also learning how to use this knowledge. To this end, we adapt the content and methodology of individual events to the respective target group in an age-appropriate manner. Ethical concepts and theories become understandable for children by learning, experimenting, marvelling and discovering together with them.
The focus here is not only on science communication for children, but primarily with children. This is to make it clear that we take children's perspectives on the world, society and coexistence seriously and that we want to work together based on these perspectives or incorporating them.
Our goals for science communication with children are:
- to awaken and strengthen young people's interest in science.
- to offer children and teenagers the opportunity to learn about new career prospects and sometimes even meet role models for their own life or career path.
Who is the programme aimed at?
The programme is aimed at all children aged 7–14 and teenagers aged 14–18.
We welcome enquiries from parents, teachers and schools who are interested in the programme.
Previous events
Children's University lecture on 22 January 2024: If I weren't poor, you wouldn't be rich – what is fair?
Bild © ETF/ Social Ethics
Our first event with the Women's Museum on 24 March 2024 under the motto ‘We are shaping the future!’
Bild © ETF/ Social Ethics
Previous events
As part of the annual Children's University, around 500 Children's University students and 300 parents attended our lecture ‘Data Protection and Thieves on the Internet’ on 3 February 2025. Prof. Dr. Louisa Specht-Riemenschneider, Federal Commissioner for Data Protection, and Prof. Dr. Matthias Braun explained in an age-appropriate manner what data and artificial intelligence (AI) are and why data protection is so important.
They used examples to show how AI draws on existing data – and can also adopt prejudices in the process. Two image AI prompts made this clear: while a white, idealised woman appeared in response to the prompt ‘A woman is sitting on a horse’, images for the prompt ‘A child is running on a dirty path’ showed poor, dark-skinned children. In this way, the children learned that AI can reinforce discrimination.
Together, they discussed how to protect data and use AI responsibly. The children participated enthusiastically, asked lots of questions – and said goodbye with loud applause at the end.
On 9 July, the Bonn Women's Museum visited the University of Bonn again as part of its ‘KinderAtelier’ children's holiday programme. Under the motto ‘We are shaping the future’, scientists from the Chair of (Social) Ethics, the Sustainable AI Lab and the Humanoid Robots Lab joined forces with children aged 6 to 11 to organise a workshop day focusing on the future and new technologies.
The day began on the roof terrace with a round of introductions and the question of what the children would like to be when they grow up – everything from astronaut to pastry chef was mentioned. Afterwards, the children played games to explore questions about the future: How is artificial intelligence changing the way we live together? What ethical rules do we need? A brief introduction to ethics provided the basis for this, enabling the children to formulate their own initial ethical judgements. The children showed great curiosity, puzzled over the risk levels of the AI Act, and considered what ethical principles should apply to the use of new technologies in the future.
At two stations, they delved deeper into the topics of sustainability and robotics. At the Sustainable AI Lab, they learned what materials are needed for AI and what environmental consequences are associated with it. At the Humanoid Robots Lab, real walking and dancing robots thrilled the children.
At the end of the day, one thing remained above all else: a great deal of curiosity, creative ideas – and works of art that are now on display at the Women's Museum. A successful day with real futurologists!
In March, we teamed up with the Women's Museum in Bonn to run a workshop for third-year pupils as part of the museum's holiday programme (KinderAtelier). Together with 20 children from the Marienschule after-school care centre, we talked about ethics and considered what a good life might look like, especially given the increasing influence of new technologies such as robots in various areas of life. Afterwards, the children designed and created their own robots in creative workshops – a fascinating combination of imagination and technology. Their works are currently on display in the exhibition “beyond algorithms_digital utopia” at the Women's Museum.
On 22 January 2024, the Chair of Social Ethics once again participated in the annual Children's University with an exciting topic. Entitled ‘If I weren't poor, you wouldn't be rich – what is fair?’, it dealt with ethical justice in general and, in particular, the question of what could be done to reduce the number of people living in poverty. Eva Maria Hille and Matthias Braun reflected on and discussed this with pupils aged between 8 and 13. The discussion focused not only on different forms of justice, but also on the children's own sense of justice. Using a simulation game on the fair distribution of gummy bears, different possibilities for what justice could look like were worked out.
In July 2022, we discussed various medical ethics issues with a school class from Munich: When does life begin? When does life end? What if new technologies are used in these sensitive areas? We discussed various ethical and social issues related to the use of new technologies in prenatal care, the detection of stress and depression, and palliative care.
Get in touch with us
Read also
Events and Outreach
Our events – for university members and anyone else who is interested.