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Going for natural sciences on Girls’ and Boys’ Day

Campus Bahrenfeld was hard to recognize on 26 April 2018, this year’s Girls’ and Boys’ Day: boys and girls strolled around in small and large groups, marvelling at the labs and discussing experiments. “Physics beats” was the motto chosen by the school lab “Light & Schools”; in addition, CUI offered lab tours, experiments and – particularly important – many opportunities for asking questions. The message delivered to the boys and girls was the same all over: they are most welcome in each area.

An unusual sight: pupils all over. Credit: CUI

12 year old Marah, for example, had registered specifically for the CUI project, which was titled “A Peak into the Nanoworld” this year, giving pupils the chance to get insights into the research. “I don’t know much about chemistry. However, it is one of my subjects in school now and I thought I could learn a few things,” the high school student said during lunch break in CFEL. Right behind her in the line, a 10th grade student from Heidberg Gymnasium waited for lunch. She really enjoyed the lab tour, she said. Although the topics are rather complicated, some things were easier to understand now.

Real insight into work: Dr. Carolin Seuring prepares her group for the lab tour. Credit: CUI

Dr. Carolin Seuring and graduate student Gisel Pena from the Coherent Imaging Group at CFEL had taken six girls and two boys under their wings, looking at samples in the lab and experimenting with 3-D printing. They were especially pleased about the high number of questions asked by the pupils, for example about studying. Public Outreach Officer Annika Schonefeld looked at science from a different perspective: she explained the ways of communicating science, using the sound installation “Unit Cell” as an example. “It is great that we can present our guests here at CUI a whole range of today’s science – from actual research in the lab to topics from science marketing,” CUI Equal Opportunity Officer Marie Lutz is happy to say.

The “Light & Schools” team around Bastian Besner and Dr. Monika Kobylinski received the company of 28 girls starting from fifth grade, in order to present them the profession of a physicist. Therefore they had prepared a variety of experiments with sound and in the end the girls could program their own piano app or build a loudspeaker. “It was really successful, much better than we had anticipated,” Jörn Bach and Felix Klein said, who had tested the new project “Physics beats” for the first time.

The central goal of the Girls’ and Boys’ Day is to interest the participating pupils in the diverse industries and departments, where they are still underrepresented. The next date is already fixed for 28 March 2019.

More Information:
Girls‘ Day
Boys‘ Day