Nature/technology – Elevate to premises, equipment, and professional communities.

Villum Foundation's grant area for Children, Young People, and Science is introducing a new fund of 30 million Danish kroner to support municipalities that wish to enhance teaching in the subject of nature/technology.

Nature/technology is the primary science subject in primary schools. From 1st to 6th grade, the teaching should, based on the children's joy, curiosity, wonder, and understanding of their surroundings, develop scientific competencies, knowledge, and skills. Thus, the subject is central to Villum Foundation's efforts to promote more and better investigative, real-world, and practical teaching in science and technology.

Therefore, applications are now being accepted for a fund of 30 million Danish kroner aimed at improving the physical framework of the subject, the competencies of teachers, and the development of subject-didactic environments in the municipalities.

Since its introduction 30 years ago, nature/technology has faced a number of challenges and has been described by researchers and teachers as a "neglected subject" that has somewhat been overshadowed by the natural sciences in secondary education.

• Many schools lack specially equipped classrooms for nature/technology teaching.
• A third of the nature/technology teaching hours are conducted by teachers without the necessary academic competencies.
• The number of students applying for nature/technology as a main subject in teacher training has dramatically decreased over the years.