Established in 2007, BioPop is a science class specialised in science education in the biological and environmental sciences. The goal of BioPop is to inspire and motivate children and adolescents to study biology through participatory study visits, and to support teachers of biology and environmental studies in elementary schools and general upper secondary schools, for example, by offering opportunities to employ experimental and research-oriented methods.
Learning materials that support school curricula developed at BioPop are published online in the BioPop material bank, where they are freely available to teachers. Every year, the material bank is accessed by more than a thousand visitors. Science class sessions and summer camp activities have also been organised online, and, through the LUMA Centre Finland network, they can be accessed by all schools in Finland.
A range of research and development projects have also been carried out in the BioPop science class.
In addition to the University of Helsinki’s Viikki Campus, our Faculty is involved in science education at many other locations: the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station, the Tvärminne Zoological Station and the Lammi Biological Station as well as the teaching unit in environmental ecology in Lahti.
The research stations have organised school visits and trips, introductory sessions, and research traineeship periods for pupils. These events give pupils the chance to familiarise themselves with how the station operates and with the research conducted there. The research stations have science trails that serve schools in the region as well as the general public. In Lahti, science education activities are carried out under the Päijät-Häme LUMA Centre, for which the Faculty’s teachers of environmental ecology have been producing content.
The Faculty has contributed to developing the concept of a science national park in Evo, which would be an excellent platform for science education. Evo science national park project (in Finnish)