Julia Riemenschneider and Maximilian Moll are the “math faces” in the Touch Tomorrow truck

Under the motto “Touch Tomorrow,” the Dr. Hans Riegel Foundation aims to provide students with guidance on career paths in the STEM fields, where the acronym STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The foundation carries on the legacy of former HARIBO owner Dr. Hans Riegel (1923–2013) and, with its Science Truck, offers an extracurricular learning space where young people can learn about these subjects. In the video clips featured in the truck—which is touring across Germany and Austria—Steinmühlen teachers Julia Riemenschneider and Maximilian Moll will soon be the “faces” of mathematics.

Math is great! To explain why that’s the case and to show who, based on their skills, can confidently take an advanced math course, an agency produced a video on behalf of the foundation, featuring the two Steinmühlen teachers as interviewees. “You have to know the basic arithmetic operations in your sleep. In the advanced course, you question things more, learn more about rules, and discover that the often-unpopular field of probability and statistics can actually be quite relevant to everyday life,” Julia Riemenschneider explained on camera. “Mathematics builds on itself, and unfortunately, there are often gaps in students’ knowledge. If the basic tools are missing, it’s difficult in the advanced course.”

Her colleague Maximilian Moll emphasized: “Anyone who can tinker and think logically meets some of the requirements.” He added: “You should definitely be confident in solving equations. And you need to have perseverance.”

 

Smart Teens – Well-Prepared Teachers

The Dr. Hans Riegel Foundation had approached Steinmühle following the truck’s last visit to Marburg. The Steinmühle students who had taken advantage of the opportunity during the truck’s visit to engage in dialogue with the presenters on site caught the organizers’ attention, as they asked such clever questions that the organizers automatically assumed highly qualified teachers were behind them. It didn’t take long before Dr. Jutta Töhl-Borsdorf, the STEM coordinator at Steinmühle, was contacted. Teachers like that would certainly be welcome to represent the subjects!

The STEM information on the Dr. Hans Riegel Foundation’s truck is intended to help students choose their advanced courses, but also to inform them about potential future career paths. Due to the pandemic, the truck has been unable to continue its tour as planned in recent months. However, the schools that had booked it will receive an online program via the “Touch Tomorrow Stream.”