Steinmühle’s Project-Based Learning Inspires at Film Festival

Stone Mill lessons are causing a sensation—even as far away as Recklinghausen. Project teacher Ines Vielhaben explained some of her work at the 10th Church Film Festival.

During the four-day event, the short film “Diego from Guatemala,” part of the “199 Little Heroes” project, was screened in the short film category. During the post-screening discussion, Ines Vielhaben, the project teacher at Steinmühle, presented what the students in the current 6th-grade class at Steinmühle had developed as part of the “Children from All Over the World” project—inspired by this very film. Ines Vielhaben accepted the invitation to attend the event in Recklinghausen to explain the teaching approaches there.

Thematically, the project-based learning focused on exploring children’s rights. This provided the students with opportunities to write articles about an aspect of their partner children’s lives. The film footage provided the students with an excellent foundation for empathizing with the local conditions and everyday situations of the children through its evocative imagery. Since the documentaries feature only children aged 9–12 talking about their lives, their hopes, and their futures, they speak directly to the sixth-grade students. The students followed the “little heroes” on their journey from waking up to arriving at school.

The project-based lesson, with its on-site explanations, served as a model and example for the audience. Ines Vielhaben received a great deal of enthusiastic feedback on her “very engaging and informative report from the field,” as the moderator put it.

By the way, the wall newspapers featuring the 15 little heroes that the sixth graders got to know through the short films will be on display for interested parents in the Steinmühle Forum during the summer concert.

As part of the event, the Cineworld festival cinema in Recklinghausen screened the following short films for the education sector: “Ich habe noch Auferstehung” by Jan-Gerrit Seiler (left) and “Nicht mal im Traum” by Astrid Menzel (second from the right). Michael Kleinschmidt (right) served as the moderator and thanked Ines Vielhaben (second from the left) for the insights she shared.