SCHOOL CLASS PROGRAM

Exciting offers for school classes of all grades

Courses on a wide range of topics from biology & environmental science can be booked by school groups in the lab. The contents are aligned to the respective current curricula and learning plans.

Registration

By phone: Monday and Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 12.30 p.m. to 4.30 p.m.

Phone: 089 / 179589-120

Please note that the processing may take 3-4 weeks.

Over the phone, you will get information about the organization and other offers.

It is also partly possible to book courses for school or after-school classes during the school vacations, as long as there is no open vacation program.

A garden area is available in the Botanical Garden for the educational offer in the BIOTOPIA Lab. Below you can learn more about the Biotopia beds.

school programme

Education at BIOTOPIA

Education at BIOTOPIA

Education for all is a cornerstone of BIOTOPIA's vision. If you want to find out more, you can visit our education page to find out what is already provided and what the future holds.

Current topics

Combined programs with the Museum Mensch und Natur

The Museum Mensch und Natur is becoming Naturkundemuseum Bayern! The museum's education department is therefore already working closely with the BIOTOPIA Lab and offering combined programs for school classes. Half of each of the following workshops and courses will take place in the museum and half in the BIOTOPIA Lab.

What water can do
PHYSICS OF THE BASIS OF LIFE

Quenching thirst, shaping mountains, being a habitat: Water can do that and much more. First, we will explore the many capabilities and functions of water in the Museum Mensch und Natur. Then we will dive into the cold water ourselves and experiment with this exciting element in the BIOTOPIA Lab. Why does an iceberg float? Why does salt not fall to the bottom of the sea? How does water become clean again? We answer these and other questions together in the lab.

Type of school: Elementary school 1st - 4th grade
Duration: 3 h
Price: 140 €

Who lives in the water?
THE SECRET LIFE IN THE LAKE

Water cools us on the beach, can freeze into ice or pelt our umbrellas. But what does it mean to always be surrounded by water? In this workshop we will explore water as a habitat. First, we will explore the importance of water on earth in the Museum Mensch und Natur. Then we will look at the ecosystem of the lake and take a sample ourselves in the botanical garden and microscope the life in water in the BIOTOPIA Lab.

Type of school: Secondary school 5th - 7th grade
Duration: 3 h
Price: 140 €


Workshops in the BIOTOPIA Lab

The following programs for school classes all take place in the BIOTOPIA Lab.

Bare your teeth
you are what you eat

In the Biotopia Lab we learn how researchers use bones and teeth to investigate the eating and living habits of different animals and what these reveal to them. We feel the teeth of sheep and hyenas, look at the skull structure of an elephant and rhinoceros, and recognize the difference between carnivores and herbivores. By looking closely at different chewing tools of various mammals, we learn a lot about their way of life and reflect on our lifestyle.

Age groups: 11-20+ years
Duration: 2 h
Price: 100 €

HUMUS sapiens
Soil dwellers, material cycle, ecosystem

How is fertile soil created that produces new plants every year? We get to know a number of tiny creatures that ensure that all animal and plant remains can be broken down and recycled in the soil.

Far more than just the “dirt” under our feet, earth is a truly complex and dynamic ecosystem. Let's explore this invisible world together.

Age groups: 4-20+ years
Duration: 1.5 h or 3 h
Price: 80 or 140 €

Blossom and pollen flood
Observe and understand different pathways to pollination

Many flowers enjoy great popularity due to their colorful and fragrant blooms. For what purpose, however, did the plants develop such lavish beauty and why do some plants survive without showy flowers? In the botanical garden, we look at a wide variety of flowers, collect pollen and examine them under the binocular and microscope. Based on the abstract textures of the pollen grains and with the help of flower models, we will work out the two different mechanisms of pollination: wind and insect pollination.

Age groups: 10-20+ years
Duration: 2 h (Mo and Fr only)
Price: 100 €

Water Worlds
Physics and life in the wet element

Water is a special substance! Thanks to the special properties of the water, many exciting experiments can be carried out with it. We test the physical properties of water and find out why a water strider doesn't sink. When looking through the microscope, we will discover small living beings in our water sample.

Age groups: 6-14 years
Duration: 3 h
Price: 140 €



Art & Science
Draw plants on the stereo magnifier

In science, looking closely, discovering and observing are essential for gaining new insights. New perspectives are opened up by using a binocular. Material brought along or plant material from the botanical garden is magnified and examined closely. We learn interesting facts about the plants and their pollinators. Tips for drawing will be given by the lecturer and draftswoman of the Botanical Garden.

Age groups: 14-20 years
Duration: 3 h
Price: 140 €

The Eternal Garden
Mini-biotope in a jar

In this workshop we will build a bottle garden to take away. At the beginning we talk about which cycles ensure that the garden can survive in isolation. When planting their mini-hermethospheres, we think about the conditions under which stability will arise and which will cause instability. Interventions in ecosystems and our responsibility towards our environment are reflected. At the end the results are presented.

Age groups: 7-18 years
Duration: 2 h
Price: 100 €

Code of Life
Isolate your own DNA

The spectrum of this workshop ranges from the discovery of DNA and the peculiarities of the genetic code to the use of the much-discussed “genetically modified organisms”. Depending on the previous knowledge, the mechanisms of protein biosynthesis and epigenetics or the problems of gene therapy can also play a role. In the practical part, we get an insight into molecular biological laboratory work. The DNA is isolated either from your own oral mucosa or from a piece of banana, which becomes visible as a thread-like streak in the test tube.

Age groups: 6–20+ years
Duration: 2 h
Price: 100 €



BIODIVERSITY ON YOUR DOORSTEP
EXTERNAL BODY STRUCTURE, SYSTEMATICS, SPECIES DIVERSITY AND FIELD STUDY

What does insect mortality mean? Can we observe a similar trend on our own doorstep? To be able to answer these questions, we examine the external characteristics of insects in distinction to other arthropods and learn about native insect orders. In the Botanical Garden, we will compare the insect diversity and quantity on areas with different grass heights and thus refer to the biosphere change due to intensive human use.

The workshop focuses on examining prepared arthropods and encountering living insects both in the lab and in the field.

Age groups: 10–20+ years
Duration: 3 h
Price: 140 €

Kombucha Biodesign
Your own creations from microbial biofilms

With a symbiotic culture of different bacteria and yeasts one can not only produce a tasty and healthy drink (Kombucha). If you dry the slimy biofilm, you get paper or leather-like material. Sustainable solutions for an environmentally friendly life (e.g. vegan leather, clothing or packaging) will be discussed.
This workshop is particularly suitable for formats in which the participants come back to the BIOTOPIA Lab 1-2 weeks after the first session to view the products and take them home.

Age groups: 4-20+ years
Duration: 1,5 or 3 h
Price: 80 or 140 €

Kombucha (high level) – drink and material?
Explore and understand the metabolic pathways of various microorganisms – especially for upper secondary school

We look at the culture under the microscope and recognize eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells that coexist and form the SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast). We work out the mutual benefit of the metabolic pathways (e.g. alcoholic fermentation) that the microorganisms experience from their symbiotic way of life. As a practical experience, we examine the properties of the dried biofilm made of microbial cellulose and evaluate its suitability as a kind of "vegan leather”.

This workshop, specially developed for upper secondary school, deals with the differences between eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells, alcoholic fermentation as an anaerobic metabolic pathway, symbiosis in microorganisms and the use of sustainable raw materials.

Age groups: 16-20+ years
Duration: 2 h
Price: 100 €

The fantastic world of mushrooms
Mushroom mycelium: raw material of the future?

What are fungi actually? What do they live on? Where do they play a role in our everyday life? We want to give insights into the world of fungi and their important role as decomposers. To do this, we microscopically examine petri dishes with fungi mycelium, create our own rose oyster mushroom culture and learn how waste paper can be turned into a valuable raw material with the help of mushrooms. The participants should be empowered and gain self-confidence in order to be able to experiment with mushrooms independently. In small groups, the coffee grounds rose oyster mushrooms are given for care.

More about Fungi

Age groups: 4-20+ years
Duration: 1,5 or 3 h
Price: 80 or 140 €



For the Little Ones

The BIOTOPIA Lab also has something to offer for preschoolers and kindergarten groups.
The following workshops we also offer for the little ones:

The Eternal Garden
Mini-biotope in a jar

In this workshop we will build a bottle garden to take away. At the beginning we talk about which cycles ensure that the garden can survive in isolation. When planting their mini-hermethospheres, we think about the conditions under which stability will arise and which will cause instability. Interventions in ecosystems and our responsibility towards our environment are reflected. At the end the results are presented.

For kindergarten groups, a 1.5-hour course can be booked for 80 €.

Bare your teeth
you are what you eat

In the Biotopia Lab and in the exhibition Molassic Park - An Expedition to Bavaria's Apes, Primal Elephants and Subtropical Forests, we learn how researchers use bones and teeth to investigate the eating and living habits of different animals and what these reveal to them. We feel the teeth of sheep and hyenas, look at the skull structure of an elephant and rhinoceros, and recognize the difference between carnivores and herbivores. By looking closely at different chewing tools of various mammals, we learn a lot about their way of life and reflect on our lifestyle.

For kindergarten groups, a 2-hour course can be booked for 100 €.

The BIOTOPIA Lab beds

A garden area is available in the Botanical Garden for the educational offer in the BIOTOPIA Lab. Together with students, this garden is planted, cared for and used for various school projects and workshops.

The area emphasizes the understanding of the interactions between different life forms in our environment. Appreciating the diverse relationships between plants and insects provides an awareness of species diversity and biodiversity. The importance of a stable ecosystem becomes clear. Soil as a resource is a focal point of the HUMUS Sapiens workshop.

With the friendly support of: BayWa Stiftung, Botanical Garden and  the POSTCODE lottery

"Why wander far away when the good is so close!" This modification of Goethe's famous words applies in a very special way to our grammar school, which is very fortunate to be able to incorporate the BIOTOPIA Lab, a unique extracurricular learning location into its lessons. The Lab offers not only an optimal addition to the teaching in the biological-chemical subjects, but also fits perfectly with the scientific focus of our girls’s school.

 
Dr. Hubert Gruber, former director of the Archbishop's Maria-Ward-Gymnasium Nymphenburg

BIOTOPIA Lab@Home

BIOTOPIA Lab activities for at home

With an exciting hands-on program, the BIOTOPIA Lab can also be experienced at home. Instructions, experiments and do-it-yourself concepts bring "hands-on science" into your own four walls. BIOTOPIA Lab@Home awakens interest in scientific relationships and provides inspiration for young and old. It gives a taste of the activities in the BIOTOPIA Lab - from bottle gardens or growing your own mushrooms to isolating DNA from vegetables or fruit. Browse the website and find the right experiment for you!

Naturkundemuseum Bayern
Botanisches Institut
Menzinger Str. 67
80638 München, Germany

BIOTOPIA Lab:

Phone: +49 (0)89 178 61-411
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Pressekontakt:

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Sonstige Anfragen:

Phone: +49 (0)89 178 61-422
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