Contests & Awards-Archiv

Certificates Demonstrate Business Knowledge

Contests & Awards, News, Politics, Business & Responsibility

Following last year’s successful launch, students from Steinmühlen’s E-Phase once again participated in the program to qualify for the “Entrepreneurship License.” The certificate is based on a program offered by the e-learning provider bit media in collaboration with the student learning platform LONA Education. The exam is administered by the Academy for Business and Logistics. This is preceded by instruction in the fields of business, economics, and business administration. The Entrepreneur’s License is completed through several modules, each of which concludes with a certification exam. It is a recognized business certificate. Principal Björn Gemmer (back left) and subject teacher Erno Menzel congratulated the students on their successful demonstration of knowledge, which in almost all cases was documented in Modules A and B. Preparations for the next level, Level C, according to Erno Menzel, were unfortunately derailed by pandemic-related restrictions. The Entrepreneur’s License was earned by Johannes Agel, Sarah-Marie Blöcher, Lara Maria Engel, Paul Kappeller, Sebastian Koch, Moritz Philipp Mägerlein, Simon Süßer, Mara Wagner, and Elisabeth Weber.

1. September 2020

Mathematicians Once Again Succeed at the Pangea Mathematics Competition

Contests & Awards, News, STEM

The participation of numerous students from our school in the annual Pangea Mathematics Competition, which takes place in several countries, has become a true tradition and shows that mathematics is a subject that can inspire many people.

This competition consists of 20 multiple-choice questions of varying difficulty, which students must solve within 45–60 minutes without a calculator. These are not traditional math problems from the classroom, but rather a combination of logic and brainteaser problems, such as those sometimes found in various aptitude tests for career orientation. Scoring is done centrally, and typically the top 500 participants in each grade level from across Germany are invited to the intermediate round.

This year, too, several students performed exceptionally well and made it into the top 500 in Germany (and the top 50 in Hesse).

5th Grade: Carlos_Toshira_Beato_Del Rosal

6th Grade: Sophia Rogosch and Teresa Dinges

7th Grade: Timo Wienbeck and Yewon Jeong

9th Grade: Joshua Wieder; Paula Auschill; Susanna Just; and Velten Schulz

We would like to extend our warmest congratulations to our students on this achievement.

(Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 situation, the remaining rounds of the competition have been canceled this year.)

(from left to right) Joshua Wieder, Sophia Rogosch, Teresa Dinges, Yewon Jeong, Susanna Just, Timo Wienbeck, Paula Auschill, Carlos Toshira Beato del Rosal, Velten Schulz

17. June 2020

Successful Young Researchers at the IJSO

Contests & Awards, News, STEM, Talent Development

For the second time, Hanna Schmidt-Dege (7a), Sabrina Ben Amor, Julius Henkel, Thorben Heß, David Immel, Luca Krantz, Max Posingies, Marvin Preis, and Joel Rucker (all 7c) took part in the International Junior Science Olympiad, which this year had the theme “All About Ink.” In this competition, children and teenagers up to age 15, under the supervision of a teacher, can work on various competition tasks either alone or in small groups. The most important part of each task is an experiment that must be conducted, documented, and evaluated. This year, for example, the students investigated what happens to ink when it is “erased” with an ink eraser, and they made their own ink using various recipes. In two additional experiments, they used ink to examine water transport in flowers more closely and to visualize particle movement in liquids of varying concentrations and temperatures.

The students were able to conduct the experiments during their regular physics classes and thus also make use of the school’s resources (e.g., the student lab, physics equipment collection). The results show that everyone learned from last year’s experiences and acquired a high level of experimental competence.

Marvin Preis (7c), who not only participated in this year’s Olympiad but also successfully competed in the “Jugend experimentiert” contest last year, advanced to the next round of the competition. There, he had to answer a total of 24 quiz questions on various topics in the natural sciences that went far beyond the school curriculum for his age group. Marvin rose to this challenge as well and qualified for the next round—a written exam—which will take place in June, and we wish him the best of luck.

17. June 2020

Focus on the “Health-Promoting School”: Working Toward the Second Certificate

Contests & Awards, News, Sports & Health

Steinmühle School has cleared another hurdle on its path to becoming a Health-Promoting School and has earned the “Movement and Perception” partial certificate. As a result, the school now holds two of the at least four partial certificates required to earn the overall certificate. Both partial and overall certification are issued by the Hessian Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs.

All certification stages require a high degree of organization and commitment in the respective area. After the first partial certificate focused on the topic of “Nutrition and Consumption,” the focus shifted to school activities related to physical activity and awareness. “The certification process was initiated by forming a steering committee,” reports school athletic director Michael Neirich, who coordinated the overall process and also provided professional development on the topic. “It worked to Steinmühle’s advantage that many of these elements were already part of our everyday school life,” says Neirich in retrospect. “We were in a pretty good position right from the start.”

Nevertheless, it was necessary to collect basic data, compile conceptual information, and prepare documentation on the work. This included conference minutes, project descriptions, press reports, and professional development events. The assessment was based on a self-evaluation and an external evaluation by the certification group of the State School Authority—including a meeting with the school administration, an on-site tour, and classroom observations.

In addition to Michael Neirich, the main contributors to the development of the “School Promoting Physical Activity and Perception” sub-certificate were Manuela Schmidt (steering committee chair), Moritz Zöckler (documentation), Nicole Hohm and Heike Rabben-Martin (addiction prevention), Carmen Bastian (Environmental Office), and Bernd Holly, representing the school administration. Angela Heinemann

They were the “front-line workers” who helped earn the certificate, which was presented by School District Director Heike Grosser (right). From left: Moritz Zöckler, Manuela Schmidt, Michael Neirich.

27. April 2020

Bio-Olympics with a State Seminar at TU Darmstadt

Contests & Awards, News, STEM

Conduct Biochemical Experiments Yourself and explore new areas of biology

First things first: You don’t have to be in the advanced biology class—this is all about personal interest and extracurricular involvement! The International Biology Olympiad (IBO) is an annual competition for high school students that consists of four rounds. After successfully completing written knowledge tests and practical lab work, the four top German students will travel to the host country of the respective Olympiad for the final round. This year, that country is Japan (Nagasaki).

In my first year participating, I made it to the second round and, as one of the top ten students from Hesse, was invited to attend a four-day state seminar at TU Darmstadt. Throughout the entire time, I was supervised by Dr. Dietmar von der Ahe, who serves as the contact person at Steinmühle for student competitions in biology.

Requirements Beyond the High School Level

In the first round, four open-ended problems are presented covering all areas of biology. The difficulty level exceeds that of high school, but participants may use any relevant reference materials to solve the problems. The submitted solutions, in the form of a term paper, are reviewed by the supervising teacher. For me, the decision to participate in the Biology Olympiad wasn’t based on the expectation that I would definitely advance to the third and fourth rounds. My primary goal was to take advantage of the opportunity to tackle more challenging problems in biology, since I plan to study medicine after graduating from high school and enjoy taking on new challenges.

The first round requires a significant time commitment, but for me it was worth it—both to gain new knowledge in the fields of botany, genetics, zoology, physiology, systematics, and biochemistry, and to practice writing a scientific paper.

About half of all participants made it to the second round this year. In roughly two hours, they had to complete 30 multiple-choice questions and eight more complex problems. The resources available on the IBO website, as well as past exams, offer a useful way to prepare for this very challenging test and familiarize yourself with the format. Overall, I can say that there is no foolproof way to prepare for this round, as some of the questions present challenges even for biology teachers with a degree in biology.

Final Presentation

The top 10 participants from Hesse in the second round will then be invited to Darmstadt as a “reward for their achievements.” Working in teams of two, under the guidance and supervision of a lecturer, we were able to set up bacterial cultures, measure and record their growth, and perform biochemical procedures such as plasmid isolation, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and gel electrophoresis ourselves. On one of the four days, we had the opportunity to explore other areas of biology in small groups and actively try out more complex biological techniques. In addition to topics such as neurophysiology (measuring action potentials in neurons), fluorescence and electron microscopy (learning about and testing how they work), and RNA methods (Western blotting), we also explored live-cell imaging. My experience in the field of live-cell microscopy was very positive, as we received excellent guidance and the professor in charge even took the time personally to answer our questions. The program concluded with short presentations by each small group on their findings from the individual experiments.

I was very pleasantly surprised by the work in the lab at TU Darmstadt, and since the internship isn’t graded, I can really recommend it!

Encouragement to Participate

To all interested high school students: If you’d like to give yourself the chance this year to challenge yourself and—by participating—not only earn credit toward your biology qualification but also gain hands-on experience working in a university lab under the guidance of a professional instructor, talk to your biology teacher and start working on the first-round assignments for this year’s Biology Olympiad as early as April! Have fun and good luck! (My results: Round 1: 13th place in Hesse, 182nd out of 1,165 in Germany; Round 2: 6th place in Hesse, 54th out of 518 in Germany)

(Carolin Mauersberger)

20. March 2020

Steinmühle won top honors and special prizes at regional “Jugend Forscht” competitions

Contests & Awards, News, STEM, Talent Development

With a total of six projects, Steinmühle competed this year in the regional competitions in Lollar and Kassel. Three teams took first place, thereby qualifying for the state competitions in Darmstadt and Kassel in the “Schüler experimentieren” category. Three teams earned a special award.

Noteworthy is the participation of teams from various grade levels—from the lower school to the upper school. Grade 6 was represented twice, while grades 8, 9, 11, and 13 were each represented once. The subject areas were also quite diverse: research and experiments were conducted three times in biology and once each in chemistry, physics, and earth and space sciences.

Leonard Berger, Mats Egbring, and Leontin Schmidt were the sixth-graders who, in the “Schüler experimentieren” under the guidance of teachers Dr. Jutta Töhl-Borsdorf and Dr. Dietmar von der Ahe, and also took home the special prize for environmental technology. They compared organic fields with conventional fields. In doing so, they analyzed a total of nearly 20 soil samples and found that organic fields scored highly both due to their low nitrate levels and their ability to bind and subsequently release nutrients. Conventional fields—and especially those fertilized with liquid manure—almost universally exhibited concerning levels of nitrate and nitrite. The jury deemed the topic, the project, and its results worthy of the highest possible ranking. Next up is the state competition in Kassel.

Not enough oxygen in the shoe

Morten Köhler, Benjamin Schul, and Joshua Wieder from 9th grade investigated why heat pads don’t work in ski boots. The three students had gotten cold feet during the Steinmühle ski trip and noticed that heat pads for feet—which are supposed to provide relief—work very poorly. They investigated the chemical reaction and found—in part by measuring temperature and oxygen curves—that there is simply not enough oxygen inside ski boots. As a result, the desired reaction quickly comes to a halt.

Under the guidance of teacher Dr. Jutta Töhl-Borsdorf, they used smartphone-controlled temperature sensors and an oxygen probe controlled by an Arduino. Arduino microcontroller boards were first introduced at Steinmühle by Malte Klimczak in the elective technology class and were also used here to address chemistry problems. These three students also won first place in chemistry for the best interdisciplinary project and can look forward to competing in the state competition in Darmstadt.

How Flour Beetles “Break Down” Styrofoam

Clara Müller, Marie Englert, and Jennifer Weber, all 11th-grade students, investigated—under the guidance of Dr. Dietmar von der Ahe—whether bacteria in the gut flora of mealworm larvae play a role in the degradation of Styrofoam. The students observed the feeding behavior of mealworm larvae (Tenebrio molitor) under various conditions. Using molecular biology methods (PCR, genomic and PCR DNA isolation, DNA quantification with a photometer, gel electrophoresis, and 16S rRNA gene sequencing performed by Eurofins Genomics, Ebersberg), they examined 230 different bacterial clones from the larvae’s gut flora for their phylogenetic relationships and their ability to degrade polystyrene. In the process, they identified several bacterial clones from the Enterobacteriaceae family that can degrade the plastic in a nutrient solution. The genome of one of these clones (Clone No. 43) was fully sequenced (approximately 6 million base pairs) by Eurofins Genomics on their behalf in order to search the genome for coding regions for enzymes that might be involved in styrene degradation. The students also presented a possible mechanism for the chemical process of styrene degradation. As a special prize, the trio received a one-year subscription to the scientific journal “Bild der Wissenschaft.”

Connecting with the University Through a Competition

Ronja Rosenkranz, a 13th-grade student, impressed the jury in the physics category. She investigated what causes voice changes when inhaling helium. Students asked themselves this question in the 5th-grade NaUnt course taught by Dr. Jutta Töhl-Borsdorf. Ronja quickly realized that the explanation found almost everywhere is only partially correct and that the phenomenon is much more complex than previously thought. She developed various experimental setups to get to the bottom of the matter. The jury particularly emphasized her highly scientific approach to this question. Through the competition, she quickly established contacts with the University of Marburg, making it possible to conduct measurements in the Department of Phoniatrics. First place in physics for this project and the special prize for acoustics also qualify Ronja Rosenkranz for the state competition in Darmstadt.

What Earthworms Like

In the “Schüler experimentieren” competition, led by Dr. Dietmar von der Ahe, young researchers Teresa Dinges (Class 6b) and Sophia Rogosch (6c) investigated the potential effects of earthworms on soil and climate. In this project, the students took a close look at the behavior of the native earthworm Lumbricus terrestris and its interaction with soil bacteria. In the process, they discovered:

the type of soil that earthworms prefer
what soil conditions he avoids (pH level, calcareous soil, sandy soil, etc.)
that earthworms produce significant amounts of the greenhouse gas CO2 in the soil through their interaction with soil bacteria.
that the bacterial families present in the soil differ from those found in earthworm feces.

The Environment of Horsehide

Silas Krüger and Jan Vollmer (both in Class 8c) wanted to learn more about “life on a horse’s skin.” Under the guidance of Dr. Dietmar von der Ahe, the students examined various skin areas of two horses (skin, ear, nose, mouth) for bacterial colonization—the so-called microbiome. In the process, they discovered that the summer microbiome differs significantly from the winter microbiome—that is, different bacterial families are found on the various skin areas in summer than in winter. This corresponds to the different skin functions under varying climatic conditions.

18. March 2020

First Prize at “Jugend musiziert” for Nela Haeberle and her flute quartet

Art, Music & Theater, Contests & Awards, News, Talent Development

Nela Haeberle and her flute quartet won first prize with a perfect score of 25 points at the Central Hesse regional round of “Jugend musiziert” held at the Philosophikum II in Giessen. The “Vier Notenschlüssel” have thus qualified directly for the state competition, which will be held at the end of March at the State Music Academy in Schlitz. The quartet’s ultimate goal—which includes Nela Haeberle (second from the left) along with students Anna Briel, Anna Schwarz, and Miriam Lange—is to qualify for the national competition. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for them!

18. March 2020

Junior Science Olympiad: Even the youngest participants worked independently and successfully

Contests & Awards, News, STEM

The first round of the 17th International Junior Science Olympiad took place between early December and mid-January. During this round, children and teenagers up to age 15 had the opportunity to conduct, document, and analyze experiments on a specific topic—this year, “ink.” This competition offers students an accessible introduction to STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and is designed to spark an interest in inquiry-based learning—particularly in an interdisciplinary context—that goes far beyond the standard school curriculum.

A total of 10 students took on the challenge at the Steinmühle under the guidance of their NaUnt teacher, Julia Riemenschneider: Liliane Albrecht, Mats Egbring, Maximilian Glock, Lilian Gräser, Max Krug, Antonia Kurlinsky, Stella Preiß, Konrad Rothmann, Jonathan Wolff, and Philipp Zielen. Alongside their regular classes, they worked with great enthusiasm on the experiments, which they conducted and documented using only everyday materials. The tasks posed a particularly significant challenge, especially for the youngest participants in the competition. Despite this, they were able to successfully complete the experiments on their own, demonstrating great enthusiasm for STEM subjects.
Julia Riemenschneider

4. March 2020

“Amazon Ants” and “Math Magicians” took second place statewide in Hesse

Contests & Awards, News, STEM

“Can you guys double-check if what we’ve checked off here is right?” “I’m on a hot lead for Problem 8 right now.” “How do you factor again?” “You cross out something at the top and something at the bottom.” “I know the p-q formula. Am I smart or am I not smart?”—Those were the actual words of Aliena, Paula, Joshua, and Konstantin from Class 9a as they worked on the problems for the Bolyai Team Math Competition.

What is not allowed in regular class exams or tests is, in fact, encouraged in this new math competition: Two to four students from the same grade form a team and work together to determine which of five given answers is correct for a math puzzle. Anything is possible, ranging from “none” to “all 5 answers.”

“The ability to work together is a core value in our lives”—that’s the motto of this competition, which originated in Hungary and has only been offered in Germany for the past five years. The two girls and two boys from class 9a agreed to participate in Bolyai without a moment’s hesitation. They spent more time discussing their team name. They ultimately competed as the Amazon Ants (“They’re the strongest animals in the world relative to their body weight,” Joshua had explained) and were very successful. Out of 61 participating teams in Hesse, they took second place and received certificates, T-shirts, and the 2019 Bolyai Competition yearbook containing all the problems and solutions.

Just like last year, Teresa Dinges (6b) and Sophia Rogosch (6c), along with two students from the Gymnasium Philippinum, competed in the Bolyai Competition as “Die Mathemagier.” They were just as successful as last year and took second place among 103 participating groups of sixth graders in Hesse.

Congratulations to both successful math teams!
Gisela Opper

4. March 2020

2020 School Chess Championships: Philipp Dubinker (5b) won his age group

Contests & Awards, News, Sports & Health

A tense calm hangs in the air during the final round of the Marburg Student Chess Championship. You can’t even hear the clocks ticking—electronics have made their way here, too. Full concentration on opponents and the board. A large group of students comes through the door and quietly gathers around the first table of the 5th/6th-grade group to watch their top players compete on the top boards. And they aren’t disappointed—the game is thrilling and ultimately ends with their classmate’s victory and his title win in this group. Applause!

The School Chess Individual Championship, organized by the Chess Club and Steinmühle, was well attended again this year. A total of 59 students from 13 schools in the Marburg district took part and competed in three categories (up to 4th grade, 5th and 6th grades, and 7th grade and above) to determine their champions. The event was sponsored by Sparkasse Marburg-Biedenkopf. City Councilwoman Kirsten Dinnebier served as the event’s patron and personally welcomed the participants.

Among the winners were some new faces and some familiar ones. The winner in the category for grades up to 4 was Mark Scherer from the Erich Kästner School, with 6 out of a possible 6 points. In the 5th and 6th grade category, Philipp Dubinker from the Steinmühle School took first place, also with 6 out of 6 points. Finally, in the “older” category, Jakob Wolf from the Elisabethschule won once again.

The organization, which is now well-established, ran smoothly. The next major chess event on the horizon is the schools’ team championship, which will take place this summer.

Text and photo: Helge Neidhardt, Schachklub Marburg e.V.

This is what winners look like: (from left) Jakob Wolf (Grades 7 and up, Elisabethschule), Mark Scherer (up to Grade 4, Erich-Kästner-Schule), Philipp Dubinker (Grades 5/6, Steinmühle, Class 5b)

2. March 2020