For the 30th time, the Center for Chemistry (ZFC) invited 16 high school students from Hesse to learn about scientific practice and specific corporate structures through dialogue with professionals. In the “digital lab,” the young talents explored high-performance materials that also play a central role in the context of the energy transition. Topics included efficient storage media for renewable energy, as well as surface analyses and high-performance magnets, such as those used in the field of electric mobility and in wind turbines.

Veit Gemmer, a student in Class 13 at Steinmühle, had qualified for the week-long Inventors’ Lab. His group focused on sodium solid-state batteries, which contain so-called Nasicon electrolytes and may one day offer alternatives to the problematic materials currently used in lithium-ion batteries.

The Inventors’ Lab was actually supposed to take place in October 2020 but was then postponed to early 2021 due to the pandemic. This event, too, could only be held online, but it still provided interesting insights, as Veit reports:

The Inventors’ Lab, themed “High-Performance Materials for the Future,” which normally takes place at the Technical University (TU) of Darmstadt, was at least able tobe heldonline via the Microsoft Teams platform. During the week-long workshop, we had the opportunity to gain exciting insights into the field of materials science and the Merck Group through various discussions with experts from TU Darmstadt and Merck KGaA. Using this knowledge, combined with our own additional research, our group was tasked with creating an educational video about sodium solid-state batteries. Even though creating a high-quality video took a great deal of time, the week was still very interesting.

Veit Gemmer

Created in the Inventor’s Lab created Video about sodium solid-state batteries

 

Closing Ceremony (below: Veit with his group)

 

Computer simulations of the Transport mechanisms and Conductivityen of sodium–ions in the solid-state electrolyte Nasicon (Na+–Super-ion conductor).

 

Improvement of Conductivityby Nasicoelectrolytes via Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD)

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)