The Physics School Laboratory Initiative at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is one of the winners of the competition “Energie für Bildung” (energy for education). On Wednesday, November 24, the GasVersogung Süddeutschland (GVS, South-German gas supply company) will hand over the award. The award ceremony will be one highlight on the day of school laboratories at KIT. Other events will take place at the Department of Mathematics and the Center for Advanced Technological and Environmental Training (FTU).
With its competition “Energie für Bildung”, GVS supports projects to sustainably promote the interest of children and adolescents in natural sciences and engineering. “This award confirms us in our work. We want to relieve pupils of their reservations and fascinate them for modern physics,” says Dr. Antje Bergmann, Head of the School Laboratory. “Our experiments always have a playful component, as we want to demonstrate that physics also is fun.”
The new geophysics experiment is aimed at familiarizing pupils from upper school grades with the methodology of geoelectrics. Together with geophysicists, students design this experiment as part of their state examination. The award in the amount of EUR 1000 shall be used to employ a student assistant as well as for purchasing materials, electric probes, measurement instruments, and the construction of a plexiglass box.
In the three rooms of the laboratory opened in 2009, pupils can carry out experiments in the fields of optics, photonics, quantum mechanics, elementary particle physics, and geophysics, which cannot be performed at school for reasons of costs and time. In addition, the pupils have direct contact to scientists and are given insight into scientific work. The laboratory operates successfully. “Schools from the region have registered for courses until May 2011,” says Antje Bergmann. In addition, the number of individual pupils attending the laboratory increases, for an internship, for instance. Apart from the geophysics experiment, a holography experiment, a scanning force microscope, and a fog chamber are being installed at the moment.
Mathematical wizardry and mysteries will be in the focus of the mathematics school laboratory on November 24. The fourth form of the Walzbach School, Jöhlingen, will encounter calculation tricks unknown in school, a stone age computer, and disappeared squares. Then, the children will experiment with more than 70 exhibits of the school laboratory. In the near future, the school laboratory expects the visit of the 500th school class. The school laboratory is also open to interested persons once per month on a Friday afternoon.
On the day of school laboratories, FTU will offer a training workshop on experiments with water for educators of the Haus der kleinen Forscher (house of little researchers). The genetic fingerprint will be studied by a class from the Hohentwiel-Gewerbeschule Singen, Bodensee. This molecular biology technique is applied in criminalistics or paternity tests, for instance. The pupils are familiarized with modern scientific methods and given an insight into laboratory work. The class will be one of more than 200 classes that have joined the school laboratories of FTU in 2010.
Being “The Research University in the Helmholtz Association”, KIT creates and imparts knowledge for the society and the environment. It is the objective to make significant contributions to the global challenges in the fields of energy, mobility, and information. For this, about 10,000 employees cooperate in a broad range of disciplines in natural sciences, engineering sciences, economics, and the humanities and social sciences. KIT prepares its 22,800 students for responsible tasks in society, industry, and science by offering research-based study programs. Innovation efforts at KIT build a bridge between important scientific findings and their application for the benefit of society, economic prosperity, and the preservation of our natural basis of life. KIT is one of the German universities of excellence.