Navet is a science centre located in Borås, Sweden. Our facilities are approximately 3500 square metres and are located in an old textile factory in the heart of the city of Borås. NAVET is a place full of experiments, challenges and activities to support a joyful and practical experience in sustainability, natural sciences, mathematics and technology. In Navet it is important to find contexts that support the way science, mathematics and technology are connected to history, important people and everyday life. To do this we use many different tools, such as storytelling, theatre presentations, programming, hackathons, teacher training programmes (in-service and pre-service), talks, lectures, experiments, digital tools, hands-on labs, ‘after school’ science activities and more. We collaborate closely with local companies, organise Researchers’ Night and other annual science activities (both national and international).

Students of all ages and teachers from Borås and neighbouring municipalities visit us regularly as part of a local agreement. Navet is a member of the national association for science centres in Sweden, FSSC, actively working with projects with the aim of improving the overall quality of Sweden’s science centres (at the moment with a focus on programming, teaching/business thinking and overall sustainability goals). In recent years, Navet has been awarded the highest quality scores of all Swedish science centres in the annual inspection by the Swedish School Board. Navet has a large number of cooperation partners locally, nationally and internationally; a local example is when companies such as Volvo, Ericsson and Parker Hannifin work with us on innovative projects for future technology with students and teachers. International projects have always been a natural part of Navet’s development, from Comenius and Erasmus+ to SIDA projects (Indonesia) and collaborations with Science On Stage Europe or other organisations. Cross-sectoral collaboration projects are crucial for the development of Navet, as the STEAM approach has always been much more important to us than STEM.

Navet’s speciality is to work with theatrical presentations and different types of storytelling and role-playing in everyday activities for mathematics, science and technology. This means that characters, fully dressed as oaks, mathematicians or bananas, can appear when you least expect it. We use puppets to encourage our youngest to take part in hands-on science in a way that most people would say is impossible. In our crime lab, visitors take a real-life role in investigating evidence in crime cases.

All the above is not only something we do with school classes; we also train teachers at all levels of pre-school and school in the use of these tools in order to make their teaching more lively.