How to Inspire People with Science: Prof. Martin Korte at the 2015 Education Evening

This year’s Parents’ Night was an interesting, informative, and entertaining event. At the end, the audience thanked Prof. Martin Korte with a long round of applause.

Martin Korte was able to explain to the audience what happens in the brain during learning, skillfully navigating the fine line between overly abstract scientific concepts and overly simplistic platitudes—just as he does in his book *How Children Learn Today*. Thinking and learning can be exciting, according to Martin Korte’s thesis, and he explained this thesis in a fascinating and entertaining way.

With the help of an exemplary PowerPoint presentation, Korte concisely explored key themes from his book, using subtle humor, such as:

What happens in the brain when we learn?
Problems Associated with Excessive Media Use and the Challenges of Multitasking
Motivation as a Lubricant for the Mind – Reward Systems
The Evolution of Wisdom
Stress Management
Dealing with Mistakes the Right Way
Core Competency: Language
Do boys learn differently than girls?
The brain needs nutrition
Learning Requires Organization

31. January 2015

UAZ – Art Education at the Steinmühle

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On Saturday, January 24, 2015, Prof. Dr. Berg from the University of Marburg and School Principal Björn Gemmer hosted a Lehrkunst workshop at the Steinmühle. Numerous colleagues from Steinmühle, several “Lehrkunst” enthusiasts from other schools, and students from the University of Marburg accepted the invitation and worked together to further develop a relatively new teaching module in “Lehrkunst” pedagogy. “UAZ – Unsere Abendzeitung” is the name of the unit, which is scheduled to be implemented in Steinmühle’s project-based classes starting next year and was presented by its author, Mr. Stephan Schmidlin from Switzerland. The interest among the Steinmühle teachers in attendance was correspondingly high; they were able to try out the teaching project, discuss it with representatives from other educational organizations, and adapt it to the conditions at Steinmühle.

In the UAZ course, students are expected to learn the basics of newspaper production: the five Ws, article structure, editing techniques, research, online searches, interviews, reporting, press conferences, archives, reworking researched material, and technical implementation are all covered. The core idea is to mimic the work of a newspaper editorial office, which turns 400 pages of wire service reports and its own material into a 40-page newspaper. The project calls for students to design 4 pages of their “own newspaper”—“Unsere Abendzeitung”—from the 40-page newspaper.

At the end of the day, everyone involved agreed that the chosen approach works well, offers many opportunities for individual focus and creativity, and will therefore help the students in Steinmühle’s future eighth-grade classes to develop skills with joy, motivation, and a great deal of independent work.

We would like to thank Stephan Schmidlin, Prof. Dr. Christoph Berg, and everyone involved for a productive day of professional development!

27. January 2015

Philipp Kreiter at the Center for Chemistry’s Inventor Lab

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Once again, a student from Steinmühle had qualified for the Center for Chemistry’s Inventor Lab: Philipp Kreiter (12d) participated in the “Environmental Technology—Fuel Cells” Inventors’ Lab during the week of January 19–23, 2015, which was organized by the Center for Chemistry in collaboration with the RheinMain University of Applied Sciences and the companies SolviCore and Umicore carried out. The Inventors’ Lab was supported by, among others, the Chemical Industry Fund and the Hesse Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs.

The topic of the week for 16 students from Hesse was how fuel cells work, and Philipp’s group was tasked, among other things, with explaining the importance of the oxygen supply for the operation of the fuel cell . The students conducted their research diligently throughout the week, and on Friday, the young scientists were able to present their findings to representatives from the chemical industry, RheinMain University of Applied Sciences, the Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs, as well as parents, teachers, and friends.

The presentations by the four student groups impressed the interested and knowledgeable audience, and in the jury’s feedback to the groups, Philipp’s team received special praise from Prof. Dr. Birgit Scheppat of RheinMain University of Applied Sciences.

More on this in the next PARENT LETTER.

25. January 2015

Steinmühlen News Ticker

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The first boarding school weekend after the Christmas break was packed with lots of great activities:

On Saturday, we went back to the ’90s —Lucia from the main store team showed the students some moves from that decade during the “’90s Party Dance Class.” Afterward, everyone got the perfect retro makeover, so the ’90s party could kick off that evening in the tea room. Everyone partied hard to the beats of “I’ve Been Looking for Freedom” well into the late hours of the night.

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We spent Sunday out and about at “LaserTag” in Gießen. In the lifestyle sport LaserTag—also known as LaserGame—two teams compete against each other on an action-packed course to score points. Teamwork, stamina, speed, and strategic thinking play a key role in the game. The playing field is called an arena and measures at least 300m². Barney Stinson (“How I Met Your Mother”) thinks LaserTag is AWESOME—and the boarding school students could 100% confirm that!

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In the spirit of “sports and exercise in the fresh air,” a group of boarding school students traveled to Frankfurt to go ice skating. The atmosphere was lively, the rink was packed, and their skating skills were better than expected.

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The Hessenhaus visited the “Fast Forward” Improvisational Theater at the KFZ in Marburg. Based on suggestions from the audience—including students in the audience—they performed side-splitting improvisations about ugly princes, aggressive restrooms, the true significance of mathematics in all our lives, and, finally, Rosamunde Pilcher-style dramas about love, doctors, and horses…. All the students were spellbound and laughed until they cried!

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All the happiness in the world… in beautiful weather, there was a “A Brief Guide to Horses” with House Manager Sibylle. For this purpose, the ponies “Nessi” and “Tara” were brought out of the stable. In addition to basic grooming, participants learned a lot about how horses communicate and were able to put what they learned into practice right away during the walk that followed (e.g., proper leading, basic ground work). As a reward for everyone involved, they took a break in the bright sunshine, and the ponies were allowed to graze for a while.

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Two football-related addenda:
On December 16, 2014, our Steinmühlen footballers traveled to the Lucius boarding school in Echzell to participate in the football tournament . There were two groups of four teams each. Three matches were played in the group stage, after which all the places were determined. According to their own account, the Steinmühlen team “drew” with the stronger of the two groups.
The game was very physical and fast-paced overall. In the group stage, the team lost two matches and drew one. In the final match for seventh place, the Steinmühlen team found their rhythm and overwhelmed their opponents with a 6-0 victory.

On Wednesday, December 17, 2014, Stammhaus and Mühle attended a Bundesliga game together at the Commerzbank Arena in Frankfurt (Eintracht vs. Hertha). The game was highly entertaining and, thanks to the great atmosphere in the stadium, remained exciting right up to the last minute.

23. January 2015

Steinmühlen Team Fights Its Way to Silver at the Youth Cup in Elmshausen

StoneMill Houseband Wows the Crowd at the Mayor’s New Year’s Reception

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As musicians of the Steinmühle, we considered it a great honor that the StoneMill House Band was able to provide the musical entertainment at this year’s New Year’s reception hosted by the mayor. Mayor Egon Vaupel had also come up with a special musical idea as part of his final New Year’s address. All the musicians participating in the evening, as well as the invited guests in the hall and on stage, would come together at the end to sing the Playing-for-change song “A Better Place,” in sync with a video streamed online, which served as the beat-keeper alongside its various musicians from around the world, thereby virtually connecting the festive gathering with people across the globe. This fit the focus of his New Year’s address, in which he made it clear that, on the one hand, it was the various individuals who had consistently supported him throughout his term in office, and that, on the other hand, this was precisely the point and the primary task of his work: to develop sound, solution-oriented policies that address the specific concerns of real people in their local communities.

Encouraged by the mayor’s charm right from the start, we took the stage and were able to open the evening with two songs from our annual program. The brass section, rhythm section, and vocalists performed a Caribbean version of Coldplay’s “Clocks,” followed by a more powerful rendition of Emeli Sandé’s “Heaven,” which built to a grand climax as the song progressed. Both pieces created a wonderful atmosphere in the hall, and we were delighted to have done such a good job. The fact that we were able to further develop the vocals into three-part harmony in many places thanks to Ulla Keller’s excellent coaching during the preparation week proved to be a huge asset. It was thus a special event and a wonderful start to the year for the singers Linda Balser, Paula Stauzebach, and Sonja Mecke; for the wind section, with Dominik Baran, Samuel Ruff, and Julius Hamel on trombones; saxophonists Philipp Kreiter, Antonia Kraft, and Tom Herfert; Malte Schweitzer and Alexander Christ on trumpets, as well as pianists Adrian Hamel and Hannah Boßhammer, guitarist Fynn Konnertz, Linus Boas on bass, Arthur Laux on drums, and Frank Wemme as band leader, providing support on percussion. The band would like to say thank you for this enriching experience and all the positive feedback.

(Frank Wemme)

21. January 2015

New Director at the Boarding School

More and more students are earning the Cambridge Certificate

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“For the fourth time (since 2011), the Cambridge FCE exam (First Certificate in English, CEFR Level B2) was held at Steinmühle in June 2014—this time with a record number of participants! Two classes were organized under the guidance of Ms. Walter and Ms. Hohm. The tenth-grade students were prepared for the exam over the course of approximately nine months in a two-hour class. We are pleased that the vast majority of students passed the exam at Level B2; a few others narrowly missed the mark and were certified at Level B1. Particularly noteworthy is the achievement of Leon Döringer, who—thanks to his outstanding results—was certified at the C1 language level, which is just one level below that of educated native speakers—a fantastic result for a tenth-grade student!

Principal Björn Gemmer (far left) congratulated (from left to right): Adrian Hamel, Laura Fach, Laura Metke, Hannah Boßhammer, Johannes Hufeland, Charlotte Baumgarten, Oliver Klockmann, Peter Passmoore, Julius Grau, Rabea Spies, Leon Döringer, Evelyn Weitzel, Eva Peter, Tabitha Sell, Rieke Batz, Antonia Schwarz, Linda Balser, and Niclas Mägerlein, and thanked Ms. Hohm (far right).”

1. January 2015