Sustainable energy management during the zdi summer holidays: A look back • zdi-portal

The zdi networks and student laboratories again had a wide range of hands-on activities and holiday courses to offer this summer. The focus was not only on sustainability issues, the theme of the Science Year 2023 "Our Universe" was also taken up at many locations. In this review, we show a small selection from the wide range of zdi activities.

Sustainable energy management

In Düsseldorf, students become climate experts

The photo shows two girls at a table making calculations on a sheet of paper. Various parts of an experiment, such as glass vessels and cables, are on the table. You are taking part in a course from the zd student laboratory: Energy Transition Makes School.

In the zdi student laboratory "Energiewende macht Schule" Düsseldorf, students could become climate experts. In the four-day holiday course, the technical basics of renewable energies, the energy transition and climate change were first taught. The students were then able to put the knowledge they had learned to the test in experiments, quizzes and games. For example, the company's own CO2 emissions were calculated and the effects of the emissions on the environment were examined. After the course, the participants can now call themselves climate experts and receive a corresponding badge on the zdi community platform.

The course can also be booked outside of the school holidays for classes from grades 13 to XNUMX zdi network MINT Düsseldorf.

An indoor farm is being built in Hamm

The photo shows a group of adults looking at a screen. A man in a red shirt is standing on the screen and is explaining something about indoor farming using a presentation. You are in the zdi student laboratory at Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences.

During the pilot season zdi Science League could the team Hammer Engineers win with a total of 47,12 points. Inspired by this success, the holiday course "Engineering - We build an indoor farm" of the zdi student laboratory at the Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences an indoor farm in Maximilianpark. Nils Reuter, the organizer of the course and employee at the zdi student laboratory, coached the successful Science League team and, when representatives of the Ministry of Culture and Science visited, explained what is important when building an indoor farm.

The model of the indoor farm created in the course will be permanently in Maximilianpark after its completion.

zdi students: indoor laboratories bring #OurUniverse closer

Not only the zdi annual topic, but also the topic of the science year 2023 was served by numerous zdi courses. The zdi student:internal laboratory was there Bochum Observatory, where the students could model their own mold to form a piece of “moon landscape”. The zdi center MINT network Essen offered the opportunity to send a self-built weather balloon to the edge of space at an altitude of 34.000 meters at his “At the edge of space” holiday camp. And also in the zdi student:internal laboratory Our spaceship earth you could get to know space and our planet earth better with experiments.

As always, the courses could be booked via the zdi community platform. Our Instagram channel provided information about the courses on offer @mintblogger:

zdi.NRW teaches future skills during the summer holidays

The photo shows a group of students sitting at a hexagonal worktable on which small wheels and tools are distributed. Behind them are three adults smiling at the camera. The photo was taken as part of a course during the summer holidays.

An example of how young people in zdi courses are equipped with skills for a future-oriented career was shown this summer in Wuppertal. The one there zdi network offers the five-day holiday course "The Autonomous Robot - Step by Step" together with the Vorwerk company. Guided by trainees and trainers from Vorwerk, the students were given an insight into the training workshop and the job profiles represented in the company. First and foremost, however, it was about printing, assembling and programming your own robot. When visiting the holiday course, Georg Mertens – responsible for zdi.NRW as head of department in the Ministry of Culture and Science – was enthusiastic about the company’s commitment and the zdi coordination: “The zdi networks in NRW do important work by involving companies directly bring the urgently needed young people into contact and at the same time teach young people STEM future skills in a way that is also fun!"

The NRW-wide zdi community also offers a wide range of workshops and courses outside of the holidays. Further information can be found on the zdi community platform.