Pupils surpass themselves during science project week.
How do you steal a plant's scent? How do microplastics in the soil affect plant growth? How can you charge your cell phone without plugging it in? Are fuel cells the future of energy supply? And how reliable is the energy information on chocolate packaging? These were important questions that 26 ninth-graders from Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium Löbau (GSG) had to answer.
The science project week in cooperation with the Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium Löbau is an annual project that is organized with great enthusiasm by the university and the grammar school.
Last September, the participants were able to choose their favorites from eleven different scientific topics - more than ever before and for the first time with the participation of Fraunhofer IWU - and feel just like students in a laboratory internship.
On the final day, in groups of two, they presented their project and the work of the previous four days to the jury and an enthusiastic audience in a short presentation and by means of a poster. Among them was the Rector of the university, Professor Kratzsch, who presented certificates and university gift bags at the award ceremony.
"Over the course of a few days, the students got to know our modern university laboratories as well as the complex content of various degree courses and learned a lot about experimental procedures and the basics of scientific work. It's great to see the enthusiasm and ambition with which the young generation is tackling these important topics, sums up the Rector.
”Thanks to the in-depth, multi-day insight into university teaching, the young researchers learned that they are also capable of grasping and mastering more difficult content. They also realized that by choosing a degree course, they can make a decision to actively help shape the future - both for themselves and for everyone else. This is because many courses and fields of study at the HSCG deal with precisely those important questions about resource-conserving production processes,CO2-neutral power generation and sustainable basic supplies that urgently require an answer in view of dwindling resources and problematic changes to the climate. A "problem-solving course" at the HSZG enables students to play an important role in finding answers.
Many thanks go to the Friends of the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, who provided book vouchers worth a total of 80 euros to award prizes for the best presentations and posters, as well as to all employees of the HSZG and Fraunhofer IWU who offered a project and contributed to the success of the project week.
Special thanks go to: Dr.-Ing. Jana Reinhold, Dipl.-Chem. (FH) Jens Krusche, Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Matthias Herrmann, Dr.-Ing. Liane Vogel, Dipl.-Ing. Uwe Heidrich, Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Felix Rothe, Prof. Dr. Gerd Fischer, Dipl.-Chem. (FH) Matthias Jeschke, Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Egmont Schreiter, Dr.-Ing. Steffen Gärtner, Dr.-Ing. Maria Schäfer, Anne Richter (B.Sc.), Christiane Dittrich (B.A.), Dipl.-Chem. Christine Borowski, Dipl.-Ing. Anett Kupka, Dipl.-Chem. Ilona Kitzig, Dipl.-Wirtsch.-Ing. (BA) Stephan Skiba, Dr.-Ing. Rolf Schicke and Heidrun Nocke. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Kopte and Ms Pohl, who organized and coordinated the project week on behalf of the grammar school.
