Graduate chemist Annett Franke carefully breaks off a small piece of a brownish-black, unknown rock with tweezers and holds it in an open flame in front of the attentive eyes of twelve participants in the geoecological practical course. The trainees, all properly dressed in lab coats, are allowed to smell the charred piece after checking its flammability and use an identification key to determine which rock it is.
A few rooms away, a lively debate is raging about the preservation of opencast lignite mines. In the roles of energy company representatives, power plant employees, environmentalists and resettlers, the four fronts engage in a passionate battle of words about the advantages and disadvantages of generating energy from coal. It seems to be "business as usual" at the university, except that it's Saturday and pupils instead of students are experiencing everyday teaching here.
The "Student University on Saturday" offers ninth to twelfth graders the opportunity to take a look at a possible future at the HSZG and feel just like a student. In lecture halls, seminar rooms and laboratories, you will gain an insight into theory and practice, study content and everyday student life in equal measure. Each of the four event dates in the 2017/18 academic year is organized by a different faculty and has a different theme.
Here is an overview of the upcoming dates:
Saturday, January 20, 2018 / Campus Zittau
Faculty of Business Administration and Economics & Industrial Engineering
"3D dream house planned by yourself", "Numbers don't lie - or do they? A foray into everyday statistics" and "Business management game - test your chances of success as an entrepreneur"
Saturday, March 17, 2018 / Campus Zittau
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
"PowerSchool: Our energy for your future!"
Saturday, April 14, 2018 / Görlitz campus
Faculty of Social Sciences
"I see something you don't - Interactive and practical introduction to the psychology of perception" and workshop "Psychology of learning"
November 11, 2017, the first "Student University on Saturday" event of the academic year, was entitled "Treasures of the past - brown coal in Upper Lusatia" and was organized by the Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences was organized by the Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences. The geoecological practical course, which teaches the basics of rock and soil identification, was one of two practical courses on offer for participants to choose from. In addition, graduate engineer Eric Schön offered a simulation game on the topic of "coal-fired power plants". The discussion of the four positions, which were sometimes torn between pros and cons, clearly showed the complexity of the overall situation and the challenges involved in reaching an agreement on the coal phase-out and the energy transition.
The strong arguments with which the students defended their respective points of view were remarkable. Inspiration for this was provided by the introductory lecture on the topic of "Opencast lignite mines", which Eric Schön used to prepare the participants of the "Student University" for the practical work in the geoecology laboratory and for the simulation game. As native Upper Lusatians, the pupils, most of whom come from the area around Niesky, had already come into direct or indirect contact with the topic beforehand. After all, the power plant in Boxberg and the Nochten open-cast mine are in the immediate vicinity of their home.
As a result, the young researchers in the geoecology laboratory had no difficulty in identifying the brownish-black and flammable rock sample mentioned at the beginning as lignite. In addition to other local rock types such as basalt and granite, they also examined the mineral components of granite - feldspar, quartz and mica, as well as pyrite, which is often found in lignite deposits. Known as sulphur pyrite, fool's gold or cat's gold, among other things, the mineral made it clear to the students that, as is so often the case, looks aren't everything: for as pretty and shiny as pyrite is in its crystalline form, it is problematic for the environment - especially in terms of acidification of the soil and groundwater.
With plenty of impressions of the everyday life of an ecology student and memorable learning experiences in their luggage, the 31 students set off for the weekend. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Ms. Franke, Mr. Schön and Ms. Kobelt for their commitment and for organizing the first "Student University on Saturday" this academic year!
There are still places available for the upcoming "Schüler-Hochschule am Samstag" events - you can register here here.
Contact us
Student University on Saturday
Christiane Matthieu (M.A.)
Phone: 03583 612-4277
E-Mail: c hristia ne.matthieu@hszg.de