Researcher and STEM

Website Researcher and STEM

You have always wanted to explore the secrets of nature and analyse, question or research coherences? Then you are fitting right into our class that focusses on researching (our “Forscherklasse”).

Many natural phenomena, even directly in the nature, are researched. Excursions near the Breitenburger forest or to the Cirencester Park adjacent to our school are a daily fare! Natural sciences aren’t limited to only biology. That’s why we put our focus also towards chemistry and physics, in which we will also experiment a lot.

Insights of the researcher lessons (changeable):

• Criminalistics: securing evidence, trace analysis
• Laboratory license
• Chemistry in day-to-day life: effervescent powder researching, colours from nature
• Living creatures grow – are salt crystals also able to grow? “crystal growing”
• Heavy planes are able to fly – does air give hold? “Flugobjekte: selber bauen“ (building flying objects)
• Solar-powered car: participation in the solar race of the AVS

Become a researcher now and experiment at home:

• Glowing dough:

Experiment instruction a) glowing dough

• Ink race:

Experiment instruction b) ink race

Video instruction (video by Matthias Emmermann, Younes Hader, Sinan Salur)

• Lava lamp:

Experiment instruction c) lava lamp and

Video instruction (video by Natali Schlichermeier, Eske Rebel-Huismann, Hauke Becker)

• Sugar crystals on a stick:

Experiment instruction d) sugar crystals on a stick

• Slime

Video instruction (video by Rufus Fischer)

The lessons of the researcher class can be carried on in a natural science and technical subject (STEM), though it is not mandatory.

STEM stands for the first letters of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The STEM subjects are the foundation of many modern career directions. Because of the STEM education, the interest of the students in scientific and technical professions can be awakened. These may then be the urgently needed skilled workers in the future.

Goals:

• Encouragement of quality and quantity in scientific and technical education of the middle classes
• Excitement of young people for science and technic in order to have practical preparations for the world of work while they are going to school
• Encouragement of independence

Insights into current STEM projects:

Space

How big is our earth? Is there also life on other planets? What are stars made of? How warm is the sun? What does the solar system consist of? What happens with space scrap?

That were only some of the few questions considering what students have asked about “space”. While they were working on the project, the questions were answered. Among other things the students created learning videos about the planets of the solar system. Accordingly, they also programmed 3D animations.

Saturn Earth Uranus Jupiter

Learning videos by the Students of the 8th grade (2020)

Author: Franziska Nazaruk

3D printer

The STEM class in the 9th grade of this year was enthusiastic about the purchase of two 3D printers. It was soon clear that we could realise many ideas with this. We decided to design slot cars and to print these. Most of them were designed using tablets. For this many different CAD-programmes were utilized.

Our goal was to let the cars compete against each other in a race.

In order to measure the time as accurately as possible a time tracker was built and programmed by using already available LEGO-MINDSTROMS-sets.

This project offers a practical excess to the teaching of electricity. This teaching provides possibility and creativity while designing the car and trains to deal with modern CAD-programmes.

The results are impressive:

Video 3D printer

Hot wire

This small game of skill was probably played by everyone once before. The possibility to design and build such game of skill is provided in the STEM-classes. In the course of this you will learn how to use a soldering iron and other simple tools. Furthermore, the ohmic law will also be part of this practice. It offers the possibility to deepen the interest in a practical and theoretical way.

LEGO-MIDSTROMS

Currently we don’t have LEGO-MINDSTROMS-projects as the researching class has other interests at the moment.

However, the possibility to build a LEGO-MINDSTORMS robot and then to program it can always be offerd to you. The LEGO sets are waiting for you!

SCRATCH

SCRATH offers a nice and simple possibility to learn the basics of the programme. First successes to move a figure with the help of arrow keys can be the steps to develop a small and simple video game. The students of the current researcher class were having a lot of fun to find new possibilities of this age-appropriate platform.

Author: Peter Seidenspinner