From 15 to 19 July, MedUni Vienna’s lecture halls will once again be filled with curious children. Whether they are looking inside cells, doing bone puzzles, completing a basic course in surgery or practising as lifesavers: getting children interested in the world of science at an early age is of great importance, emphasised MedUni Vienna Vice Rector Anita Rieder at the start of the KinderuniMedizin.
"We offer children the opportunity to experience the fascination of medicine at first hand and to discover their interest in scientific issues. Curiosity is boundless, especially at a young age, and we want to encourage this enthusiasm," said Anita Rieder, Vice Rector for Teaching at MedUni Vienna, on the fringes of the workshop "Cell City - What’s going on in the cell?", which she attended this morning together with seven to twelve-year-olds. The kids learnt that the inside of a cell is structured like a city and got an idea of what happens in the individual cell districts.
"Bacteria & superbugs: mission antibiotics!", "Saving lives, helping people", "How physics and technology help us see and walk" are further examples from the KinderuniMedizin curriculum. The young researchers can also track down serious diseases as "blood detectives", explore the anatomy of the body with a bone puzzle, delve into the world of "big data", get to the bottom of climate-damaging behaviour, identify components and diseases of the brain under the microscope or take a basic course in surgery. MedUni Vienna’s KinderuniMedizin alone offers children 54 courses.
More than 500 scientists from six universities and one university of applied sciences are offering a total of 345 courses at this year’s Vienna Children’s University from 8 to 19 July. Around 4,500 young students aged between seven and twelve have registered. On 20 July, a graduation ceremony will be held in the Great Ceremonial Hall of the University of Vienna, where the kids will receive a certificate with the title "Magister or Magistra universitatis iuvenum" and solemnly pledge to always remain curious.
