Plus-MINT students at Steinmühlen Boarding School work closely with the Department of Geosciences at Philipps University of Marburg

Fabian (16), Luis (15), Clara (15), and Marlene (15) are sitting in Room 126 at the Steinmühle, putting their heads together. They are discussing the next steps in their joint plus-MINT project, the “Boat Project.”

Looking Back: Since the summer of 2022, the four plus-MINT students at Steinmühle Boarding School have been enriching both the school’s STEM program and the boarding school community. In the fall of 2022, they began brainstorming ideas for their first major, independent project. “We wanted a joint project where each of us could contribute our respective STEM passions and that would also have practical relevance,” Fabian explains.

Antje Seel, who has been teaching biology and geography at Steinmühle since 2019, contacted Dr. Christoph Reudenbach of the Department of Geography at Philipps University of Marburg regarding the plus-MINT pilot project. Philipps University of Marburg and Steinmühle have had a cooperation agreement since 2018, forming a strong and strategic partnership in many respects.

Dr. Christoph Reudenbach showed great interest in collaborating and, together with the plus-MINTIs (as they are affectionately called at the boarding school), developed an idea for a boat that can perform semi-automatic water analyses.

Boat Project in collaboration with Dr. Reudenbach from the Department of Geography

The idea is to build an autonomous, sensor-equipped boat so that we can avoid entering the sensitive ecosystem in the Gisselberger Spannweite restoration area (located immediately adjacent to the Steinmühle site) as much as possible. This platform is designed to monitor water quality in the Lahn River and also to collect water samples.

In close collaboration with the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Marburg, the “boat idea” became the Boat Project. Dr. Christoph Reudenbach from the Department of Geography is actively supporting the plus-MINT students with his expertise. In addition, the students are mentored by the Steinmühle STEM team—Antje Seel, Dr. Patrick Szabo, and Dr. Jutta Töhl-Borsdorf.

“Projects like this are only possible thanks to the personal dedication and idealism of individuals. Dr. Reudenbach visits Steinmühle regularly and supports the students with their project, always treating them as equals and showing great dedication. This is a great opportunity for the students to learn how to build complex devices and program them independently for research purposes, as well as to deepen their knowledge in the fields of robotics, programming, and environmental sciences,” reports Dr. Jutta Töhl-Borsdorf, head of the STEM and Plus-STEM division at Steinmühle.

“The Boot Project reflects our STEM expertise AND it’s a perfect fit for Steinmühle, given its close proximity to the Lahn,” says Luis.

Award from the Hopp Foundation and prize money in the amount of 2,500,- €

The relevance and timeliness of the “Boot Project” were underscored by a special award that the Steinmühle received in March 2023:

For its commitment to STEM education, Steinmühle won the Hopp Foundation’s school award, worth 2,500 euros, as part of the “Jugend forscht” state competition. A prerequisite for participating in the competition was a detailed application letter, in which the boat project by the plus-MINT students played a major role.

“I didn’t expect us to win the Hopp Prize right away, even though the project was still in its early stages—I guess we really struck a chord with the jury,” Luis reports proudly.

Part of the prize money has already been invested in a high-performance 3D printer. “Now we can professionally print custom-made mounts for the sensors on the prototype—that’s really cool,” said Clara.

(From left to right: Fabian, Clara, Marlene, and Luis)

The “Boat Project,” including the prototype, is set to be submitted to the next “Jugend forscht” competition. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for the plus-MINT team.

The next round of applications for plus-MINT will begin in fall 2023. For more information, visit www.plus-mint.de