Pupils and students design their future place of learning
The strategic project "Zukunftslernort Oberlausitz" (ZukLOS) of the University for Future initiative of the university management is taking shape.
On May 31, 2023, 28 students and eight teachers from Zittau and Görlitz participated in a joint workshop at Celzius, the co-creation lab at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences. Together with two students from the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences (HSZG), they actively helped shape the region’s extracurricular learning spaces as part of the workshop “STEM Teaching and Learning Spaces in the Upper Lusatia Learning Hub of the Future.” The event enabled participants to contribute their creative ideas and thus help shape the educational landscape of Upper Lusatia.
The“Upper Lusatia Learning Hub of the Future” project aims to create diverse and innovative learning environments in the extracurricular STEM sector. The goal is to establish locations that offer future-oriented and regionally relevant programs. The project focuses on four main areas (see Fig. 1). Through action-oriented and intergenerational programs specifically tailored to children and young people in Upper Lusatia, the university plans to significantly increase the region’s appeal to families and young people.
To kick off the workshop, Prof. Dr. Sophia Keil, Vice President for Education and International Affairs, presented the ZukLOS project to the students, teachers, and university students in attendance and explained the goals of the STEM workshop. Afterward, the participants explored together the future premises of the Zittau Junior Academy and the DLR_School_Lab at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences at the Mandau-Höfe to gather inspiration for developing ideas.
The ZukLOS team placed great importance on holding the workshop at the Mandau-Höfe in order to integrate one of the planned extracurricular STEM learning locations directly into the program. Together, we explored the future premises of the DLR_School_Lab at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences to illustrate to students, teachers, and college students that these spaces currently represent, so to speak, a “blank canvas.” They have the opportunity to shape this space with their own visions for a modern, innovative extracurricular learning center.
”In four working groups, pupils, teachers and students then developed their ideas and visions for the design of the teaching and learning spaces for all four fields of action:
At the Zittau Junior Academy, in collaboration with the DLR_School_Lab at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, the students would like to have a modern lab area with experimental stations featuring flexible furniture, such as height-adjustable tables and chairs. Power and gas supplies are to be routed via a ceiling-mounted system to avoid restricting freedom of movement at the experimental stations. To enable students to plan, conduct, and evaluate experiments as independently as possible, a computer corner and a bookshelf with age-appropriate literature on the thematic focuses of the individual experiments are proposed (e.g., reference books, workbooks, OER, …).
From the perspective of the students and teachers, the Görlitz Experimental House should be designed in the Bauhaus style to be as timeless as possible. The interior should be characterized by simplicity and a flexible spatial concept to specifically support learning with all the senses. In addition, the students included a quiet room in their design, which is intended for individual study and relaxation. At the center of the Experiment House will be an “input area” reminiscent of a Greek amphitheater or a lecture hall, which will help create a space “[…] where many people can quickly absorb a great deal of knowledge […],” according to one student in the working group.
For example, the mobile learning location has a trailer with a technology and chemistry section, a quiet corner with a couch, bookshelf, carpet and colorful RGB lighting. The mobile STEM lab is powered by the solar system on the roof of the trailer.
As part of the Campus 4 You field of action, a green classroom with a makerspace will be created in Zittau. In this working group, the pupils discussed their design proposals together with the two students and then fleshed them out.
Hammocks and seating under trees were to be provided for the future users (pupils, students, local residents, etc.) of the green classroom. The installation of beehives was recommended to promote biodiversity. The makerspace, where learning together will also be possible in less good weather, should be set up "[...] like a small workshop with permanently installed machines such as 3D printers and lathes [...]".
After the lunch break, Ms. Krauße, an education specialist at the Landesverband Sächsischer Jugendbildungswerke e. V. (LJBW), presented the “Make Your School – Your Ideas Workshop” project to the teachers and interested staff members at the HSZG. The project offers students the chance to help shape their school and, with the support of experienced mentors, try their hand at programming, tinkering, and crafting. The Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences aims to become a network partner of “Make Your School” so that it can host hack days at schools in Upper Lusatia in the future.
The ZukLOS team would like to extend its heartfelt thanks to the students, teachers, and college students at HSZG for their wonderful ideas, which will help create modern and innovative extracurricular learning spaces in Upper Lusatia. Participants in the workshop included the Christian-Weise-Gymnasium, the Oberschule an der Weinau, the Richard-von-Schlieben Oberschule, and the Park-Oberschule from Zittau, as well as the Augustum-Annen-Gymnasium from Görlitz.
We would like to extend special thanks to Dr. Dr. Suhr, who is responsible for communications and education at Hohenloher Spezialmöbelwerk, for leading the workshop, and to Mr. Metzger from the agency D.Network.
We would also like to thank Ms. Krauße from the Landesverband Sächsischer Jugendbildungswerke e. V. for presenting the “Make Your School” project and resource kit.
We are very grateful to the many HSZG staff members in the Technical Administration & Facility Services division, at the Co-Creation Lab Celsiuz, and especially to Mr. Vogel from the Institute for Process Engineering, Process Automation, and Measurement Technology (IPM) and Mr. Schreiter from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Further information on the ZukLOS project, the four fields of action and the status of work can be found here: https://zuklos.hszg.de/
Information on the "Make Your School" project can be found on the following websites, among others:
https://www.makeyourschool.de/
https://www.ljbw.de/de/specials/hackdays-mit-und-fuer-make-your-school.html
1st floor
2nd upper floor
