Annual contribution from the Chemistry Section to the Children's Academy.
The Children's Academy is an important instrument of the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences to give children aged eight to twelve an insight into various scientific disciplines. The Chemistry Department of the Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences makes an annual pre-Christmas contribution to this. Interesting chemistry experiments are presented to the audience, which are integrated into an exciting storyline and are usually presented in a theatrical way.
This year, the graduate chemist and Head of the Laboratory for General and Inorganic Chemistry, Matthias Jeschke, traditionally swapped his lab coat for a fairytale storyteller outfit. On December 20, 2019, he told the eager audience in the Audimax Zittau the pre-Christmas story of Benjamin Blümchen and Santa Claus.
The story was well known to the guests and is told quite quickly:
Otto can't spend Christmas with Benjamin and Karla this year because he is going on a skiing vacation to Emmental with his parents. However, he is very bored there and to pass the time Otto goes sledging with two other children. They are surprised by an avalanche and buried. At home in the zoo, Benjamin is worried about his friend as he hasn't heard from him and sets off in search of him. Together with Santa Claus, his reindeer Rudolf and Karla Kolumna, Otto is rescued and "everyone was happy and content and celebrated Christmas together in Emmental".
The 70 or so children and guests in the auditorium naturally joined in the celebrations and were enthusiastic and interested. In some experiments, they were even allowed to slip into lab coats themselves and join in the experiments, especially as the acting roles this year were filled exclusively by children from the audience. Last but not least, each child received a small gift from Santa Claus (Leon Müller).
The experiments for this somewhat different kind of lecture are tried out, prepared and carried out by students on the Bachelor's degree course in Chemistry. For their great commitment this year, a big thank you goes to Loreen Alshaabi, Anton Köhler, Erik Müller and Leon Müller.
The Chemistry Department would like to thank all the children and supervisors for their great interest in the event, Frank Schneider and his Children's Academy team for the excellent organization, the Friends of the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences and the university management for their financial support and is already looking forward to the next Christmas show lecture for the Children's Academy.
Report: Dipl.-Chem. (FH) Matthias Jeschke, Head of the General and Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory
