“We have one planet Earth and one chance to get this right,” declared Professor Einstein before a packed house full of middle and high school students and educators, “And you as the leaders and makers of tomorrow have the opportunity here to work together across language and cultural borders towards that goal.”

The students and educators had gathered in Chicago, Illinois for this year’s Sustainability Summit, where the Goethe-Institut launched the Digital Kinderuniversity, a free, innovative educational project that allows students to learn German while exploring the fascinating world of science through 30 interactive STE(A)M lessons.

Beyond empowering students to learn at home, the Kinderuniversity is also a platform that can be used by teachers in the classroom to create exciting lessons that combine language learning and topics in STE(A)M.

Katrin Bauerlein, a German teacher at Mahopac High School in Mahopac, NY, said that she was excited to use the Kinderuniversity platform to work with science teachers at her school to engage with students at all levels in diverse topics. “I think that will be really great for not only German enrollment in my district,” she said, “but also for opportunities for these students to then learn a language that is the language of STEM throughout the world.”

Johannes Ebert, Secretary General of the Goethe-Institut addressed the summit and emphasized the importance of projects like the Kinderuniversity for creating networks of young, forward-thinking leaders addressing important topics like sustainability.

The Digital Kinderuniversity is a free project open to students and teachers across the country. Find out more about the project and how you can bring it to your school at www.goethe.de/KinderuniUSA