Is it possible to supply a single-family home sufficiently with nothing but solar energy? What angle of attack should the blades of wind turbines have for optimum energy conversion? How clean or polluted is the Grundbach stream in Bertsdorf? 21 pupils from Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium Löbau studied these and other questions on future-oriented topics at the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences.

The mathematical and scientific project week took place for the seventh time this year. In groups of two and three, the eighth-graders from the mathematics and science specialization class at Löbau secondary school learned about the complex content of various courses of study, modern university laboratories and laboratory experiments, experimental procedures and the basics of scientific work in nine different projects. On the final day, all groups then presented their project and the work of the past four days in a short talk and by means of a poster to the enthusiastic audience - consisting of older and younger pupils, the relatives of the project participants, teachers and the project managers from the university.

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. It also showed them that there are other ways to actively shape the future besides Fridays for Future demonstrations - both for themselves and for everyone else. This is because many courses and fields of study at the HSZG deal with precisely those important questions about resource-saving production processes,_CO2-neutral power generation and sustainable basic supplies that urgently require an answer in view of dwindling resources and problematic changes in the climate. A "problem-solving course" at the HSZG enables students to play an important role in finding answers.

A big thank you goes to the Friends of the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, who provided book vouchers worth a total of 90 euros to award prizes for the best presentations, as well as to all university staff who offered a project and contributed to the success of the project week, in particular to: Dr.-Ing. Jana Reinhold, Dipl.-Phys. Dietmar Kitta, Dipl.-Chem. (FH) Jens Krusche, Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Matthias Herrmann, Karen Kobelt (M.Sc.), Dipl.-Ing. Grit Huwaldt, Dipl.-Ing. Uwe Heidrich, Dipl.-Ing. M.Eng. Friedrich Wodarzack, Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Armin Kammler, Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Felix Rothe, Prof. Dr. Jens Weber, Dipl.-Chem. (FH) Matthias Jeschke, Dr.-Ing. Wolfgang Menzel, Dr.-Ing. Steffen Gärtner and Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Thomas Schäfer. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Kopte from Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium, who organized and coordinated the project week with outstanding commitment on the part of the school.