Science education

The Lahti University Campus is an active provider of science education for children and young people.

• The Päijät-Häme LUMA Centre, connected to the University of Helsinki, inspires children and young people to study and pursue the natural sciences, mathematics, IT and technology.
• Science Class SOLU is the centre of science education activities. It hosts various science camps and clubs, training and other events for the general public. It also organises educational visits for the region’s schools and educational institutions. In addition to educational visits that individual teachers reserve for their groups, a visiting programme that encompasses all ninth graders in Lahti annually brings over 1,000 pupils in the age group to Science Class SOLU. The programme is organised jointly with the Education and Culture service area of the City of Lahti.
• The Lahti Junior University puts all children and young people in Lahti in closer contact with science during their schooling and education. The goal is to reach entire age groups simultaneously.

The Päijät-Häme LUMA Centre strives to operate as a regional cooperation network across organisational boundaries, aiming to provide high-quality and diverse activities for children and young people in the region. In addition to the University of Helsinki, the Centre’s cooperation partners include LUT University, LAB University of Applied Sciences and Salpaus Further Education, as well as various companies and organisations in the region.

In the coming years, an increasing emphasis will be placed on science education in Lahti. The Lahti Junior University was launched in 2021. Its activities  put all children and young people in Lahti in closer contact with science during their schooling and education. The visiting programme for ninth graders, organised in Science Class SOLU, will also become part of the Lahti Junior University. According to present plans, the activities will involve preschoolers, pupils in third, fifth and ninth grade, as well as pupils in second grade of general upper secondary education.

At Lahti Junior University, pupils in basic and upper secondary education learn about topics such as water research, robotics, recycling, geography and chemistry. Upper secondary pupils have the chance to work on an imaginary environmental catastrophe threatening Lahti in a game-like major event, lasting a full school day. The participants will have the opportunity to apply their competence and resourcefulness in many fields of science to reach a common goal. The event is planned jointly by the University of Helsinki, Päijät-Häme LUMA Centre, LUT University, LAB University of Applied Sciences, City of Lahti and several of the region’s companies and other actors.