From late June through late August, eighth- and ninth-graders from Hesse had the opportunity to participate in an online workshop on STEM. During the workshop, the students received guidance from top-notch instructors on topics that are rarely covered—or only briefly touched upon—in school. These included many fascinating insights into renewable energy technology, biological and chemical processes, as well as experiments and mathematical equations. In addition, the students programmed their own game on the computer and even built an electric motor. To enable the students to conduct experiments on their own at home, Provadis sent material kits to their homes for the sessions (e.g., construction materials and chemicals). During the 10 two-hour video conferences, the students conducted experiments at home and discussed their findings with their peers and the subject experts. At the final session, several experts presented various STEM careers.

Provadis originally developed this series of events in Frankfurt a few years ago in cooperation with five science centers in Hesse. When in-person events were no longer permitted starting in March 2020, they developed this “Online STEM Workshop.” Since this workshop has been so well received by young people, it will be offered in the future both as an “online program” and, as soon as possible, as an in-person event.

Students who are interested can find out more about the upcoming “Mint – The Stars of Tomorrow” program by clicking the following link: https://www.provadis.de/provadis-gruppe/aktuelles/details/news/schuelerinnen-experimentieren-zuhause-live-am-bildschirm.html

I definitely had a lot of fun at the workshop, and I can really recommend taking part.
Joshua Wieder

Many thanks again to Ms. Tschirch from Chemikum Marburg for bringing this opportunity to our attention!

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.

 

Under the motto “Jugend Forscht Offers More,” the award-winning mentors from the individual federal states gathered for an interesting professional development trip from November 15 to 17, 2019.
Dr. Jutta Töhl-Borsdorf, a teacher at Steinmühlen School, was awarded the Mentor Prize for Hesse at the state-level “Jugend forscht” competition in Kassel. A varied program awaited her in Paderborn, to which the “Jugend forscht” ambassadors from the federal states were also invited. In addition to exciting program activities, there was also ample time and opportunity for collegial exchange in a relaxed atmosphere.
It was particularly interesting to see how differently individual schools organize their participation in the “Jugend forscht” competition, depending in part on the specific conditions and opportunities in each federal state.
The new contacts made, as well as the many stimulating conversations and ideas, will certainly be valuable for the further development of the “Jugend Forscht” projects at Steinmühle.

(Photo: Award-winning mentors with the ambassadors from the federal states and the organizers “on the moon” at the Heinz Nixdorf Museum)

At the regional “Jugend Forscht” competition, the two 12th-grade students, Lena Noelle Joußen (17) and Janina Seip (18), qualified for the Hesse state competition in Darmstadt. This meant they had to keep putting the finishing touches on their project right up until the very end.

The two-person team set off for Darmstadt the day before the competition, right after school ended. The next morning at 8 a.m., they were admitted to the Merck company’s gym. A total of 36 teams from the fields of the working world, biology, chemistry, earth and space sciences, mathematics and computer science, physics, and technology set about setting up their booths, taking the opportunity to check out the other participants’ projects.

Each team received two partition walls as well as tables and chairs; parents and guardians were not permitted to attend that day. At 9 a.m., the opening remarks were given, highlighting this year’s motto, “Don’t ask me, ask yourself,” and outlining the schedule for the day. A list of the jury’s evaluation times was passed around. This was much more enjoyable than at the regional competition, since we didn’t have to stand at the booth the whole time but could also attend various workshops on topics such as dual study programs or patent law, etc. We also got to know the other teams better, who also had very good projects to present.

 

45-minute evaluation by a four-member panel of experts

The wait until the jury’s questioning seemed relatively long, and our nerves kept getting worse. At 12:15 p.m., the jury arrived at our booth, “Microorganisms and Plastic Degradation: Identification of Bacteria in the Larval Intestines of Galleria mellonella.” Our presentation was followed by questions from the four-member expert jury, after which a sort of conversation developed, making the 45 minutes go by faster than expected.

We were done just in time for lunch, so we were able to spend the rest of the day in a more relaxed manner. Until 4:00 p.m., camera crews, photographers, and radio teams were on the move, interviewing the candidates. The jury also conducted their final evaluations. This was followed by a dress rehearsal for the awards ceremony, which seemed a bit unnecessary. Then, after a long wait, the moment finally arrived: buses took us participants to the Kinopolis so that everyone could watch the movie “Ex Machina” and then enjoy dinner together. During this time, the atmosphere among us grew increasingly lively, and by the end of the evening—when everyone had settled into either a youth hostel or a hotel—many new connections had been made.

 

“Feel free to put your own ideas into action!”

The next morning, we had breakfast, and afterward everyone was driven back to the Merck campus. There was a lot of excitement about the awards ceremony, as well as a noticeable sense of fatigue among everyone. However, the schedule didn’t allow for any long breaks. The tour of the Merck Innovation Center, where ideas for the future are brought to life, was very impressive and innovative, and our fatigue quickly faded away. We were given an insight into the idea development process—which usually takes more than two years—and a startup entrepreneur explained his company’s process to us in a very relaxed manner, encouraging us to put our ideas into action.

After spending nearly three hours at the Merck plant, we made our way back to the gym, where parents, chaperones, and science enthusiasts were now waiting to hear explanations of the projects. This part was exhausting but also very interesting, as a noticeable number of interested people came to our booths.

 

Vince Ebert as host

At 3:30 p.m., the awards ceremony began as the participants entered the hall, and host Vince Ebert welcomed everyone in his usual warm and friendly manner. This was followed by many more speeches from Merck representatives, mayors, and the Minister of Culture.

With its second-place finish in the biology category, along with 200 euros in prize money, Steinmühle achieved a very gratifying result, which delighted our parents as well as our advisor, Dr. Dietmar von der Ahe, and our chemistry and physics teacher, Dr. Jutta Töhl-Borsdorf, who had also traveled to Darmstadt. Dr. von der Ahe, as our advisor, received the Advisor’s Award. All in all, these two days were extremely enlightening, interesting, yet also very exhausting, and were filled with many wonderful experiences. Janina Seip

 

Lena Noelle Joußen and Janina Seip won second prize at the state-level “Jugend Forscht” competition for their research on “Microorganisms and Plastic Degradation: Identification of Bacteria in the Larval Intestines of Galleria mellonella.”

 

This speaks to the quality of the education at Steinmühle: Just like his colleague Dr. Jutta Töhl-Borsdorf (right) at the “Schüler experimentieren” junior competition, Dr. Dietmar von der Ahe (left) also received the Mentor Award at the “Jugend Forscht” competition.