From July 25 to 29, schoolchildren come into contact with technology at the Jungforschertage. In a workshop, they make individual metal parts and assemble them into a ready-to-use product. In the process, they can try their hand at the equipment and learn manual skills.
Trying out knowledge from school in practice - under this motto, the Schülerforschungszentrum invites STEM-interested students from the region to the Jungforschertage. During the summer vacations, they get a taste of the world of science and technology, program, work with tools, make individual parts independently and assemble them.
This week, five young people between the ages of twelve and 14 will get the chance to learn new craft skills at the Jungforschertage. In the youth workshop of the company IL Metronic Sensortechnik GmbH, which manufactures sensors, sensor modules with corresponding evaluation electronics, and customer-specific glass feedthroughs, the young people learn the first basics of metalworking. They produce a sausage grate from individual parts they have machined themselves. In the process, they learn how to read drawings, file, scribe, center punch, drill and deburr as well as bend, rivet and assemble using the specific tools. The young people are allowed to take the rust they have made home with them.
From August 23 to 25, children from the age of eight can also take part in the Jungforschertage. On the second date, they will learn to program and carry out scientific experiments in the student research center.
Consolidate knowledge through practical work
Jenny Gramsch, head of the Schülerforschungszentrum, accompanies the participants on the Jungforschertage and notices a learning effect in them:
At the Student Research Center, students can try out and work with technology that they don't come into contact with at school or in their home environment. The practical work consolidates their knowledge from school and sharpens their skills.
The approach of teaching children and young people knowledge in a playful way has proven successful at the TU Ilmenau. The courses offered by the Schülerforschungszentrum are often fully booked. Participation is very worthwhile for the students, says Jenny Gramsch. They not only gain exciting insights into STEM professions, but also initial orientation with regard to their career planning:
Participating in our workshops awakens and intensifies children's and young people's curiosity about STEM subjects. They learn how things we use every day are created and can assess for themselves where they see themselves professionally in this production chain.
The Ilmenau Schülerforschungszentrum is one of ten student research centers in Thuringia and part of the "Jungforscher Thüringen" network. Under the umbrella of the initiative of the Foundation for Technology, Innovation and Research Thuringia (STIFT), various offers related to STEM and research for children and young people in Thuringia are combined.
https://jungforscher-thueringen.de/sfz
Contact
Jenny Gramsch
Head of the Schülerforschungszentrum
Impressions from the workshop
