20 years of promoting science in the school lab
Experiments that are designed to spark an interest in science: This is what the HZB School Lab has stood for over the past 20 years. © Rasche/ Netzwerk GenaU
38,000 visitors in 20 years: high demand shows need for science education
Twenty years ago, on 29 November 2004, Klaus Böger, then Senator for Education in Berlin, opened one of the capital's first school laboratories. Since then, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), in cooperation with the Berlin Senate, has successfully promoted science education through project days and further training in the school lab.
The HZB School Lab offers hands-on project days for grades 5 to 13 on current research topics such as solar energy, light and colours, and materials research. During the project days, students work in small groups to carry out experiments independently. They are supervised by teachers, scientists and students. The teachers working in the School Lab are funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family and are released from their teaching duties for this work.
With around 38,000 visitors over the last 20 years, the demand for such additional science teaching facilities is clearly evident. Thomas Frederking, HZB's commercial director, says: "For 20 years, the School Lab has not only given children and young people an insight into our research, it has also encouraged them to take up scientific careers. In view of the shortage of specialists in these fields, the social value of this commitment is obvious."
In addition to project days for young students, the School Lab also offers trainings for teachers to demonstrate new ways of enriching science lessons. In addition, particularly interested and talented kids and teenagers are supported in two working groups.
"The experiments in the School Lab help to develop critical thinking in young people," says Dr Ulrike Witte, head of the School Lab. "Many school kids only know experiments from YouTube videos - here they experience that experimenting is exciting and not so difficult’. The HZB School Lab will continue to inspire young people's interest in science with a variety of activities in the coming years.
School lab in figures
- 2004: Opening of the school laboratory in Berlin-Wannsee
- 2010: Opening of the second site in Berlin-Adlershof
- 38,000 visitors in 20 years
- Supervision of 100 student trainees
- Training for over 800 teachers
The Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie is a renowned research centre of the Helmholtz Association. It explores and develops new materials and technologies that will make a contribution to a climate-neutral energy supply in the future. HZB is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (90 per cent) and the State of Berlin (10 per cent). The establishment of the school laboratory in 2004 was also supported by the Helmholtz Association with 340,000 euros.
- Battery research with the HZB X-ray microscopeNew cathode materials are being developed to further increase the capacity of lithium batteries. Multilayer lithium-rich transition metal oxides (LRTMOs) offer particularly high energy density. However, their capacity decreases with each charging cycle due to structural and chemical changes. Using X-ray methods at BESSY II, teams from several Chinese research institutions have now investigated these changes for the first time with highest precision: at the unique X-ray microscope, they were able to observe morphological and structural developments on the nanometre scale and also clarify chemical changes.
- BESSY II: New procedure for better thermoplasticsBio-based thermoplastics are produced from renewable organic materials and can be recycled after use. Their resilience can be improved by blending bio-based thermoplastics with other thermoplastics. However, the interface between the materials in these blends sometimes requires enhancement to achieve optimal properties. A team from the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands has now investigated at BESSY II how a new process enables thermoplastic blends with a high interfacial strength to be made from two base materials: Images taken at the new nano station of the IRIS beamline showed that nanocrystalline layers form during the process, which increase material performance.
- Hydrogen: Breakthrough in alkaline membrane electrolysersA team from the Technical University of Berlin, HZB, IMTEK (University of Freiburg) and Siemens Energy has developed a highly efficient alkaline membrane electrolyser that approaches the performance of established PEM electrolysers. What makes this achievement remarkable is the use of inexpensive nickel compounds for the anode catalyst, replacing costly and rare iridium. At BESSY II, the team was able to elucidate the catalytic processes in detail using operando measurements, and a theory team (USA, Singapore) provided a consistent molecular description. In Freiburg, prototype cells were built using a new coating process and tested in operation. The results have been published in the prestigious journal Nature Catalysis.