Solar-powered workshop for regional pupils at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences
The pupils-only laboratory Energy, which is run by zdi Centre cleverMINT for the district of Kleve and located at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences, launched its 2015 summer programme in the first week of summer holiday for schools in North Rhine-Westphalia. In a four-day workshop, young people between the ages of 13 and 15 got the chance to build their own solar-powered boat and to learn more about solar energy production in general.
Kleve/Kamp-Lintfort, July 16, 2015: Each team worked according to the same general plan: construct a boat from polystyrene and run it using multiple solar-powered motors. From there, each team’s own imagination took them in wildly different directions. One group of three, for example, built a boat driven by six separate solar modules. Another group integrated batteries into their design so that their boat could run both with and without the sun depending on weather.
At the end of the workshop each group got the chance to present their designs to the group and participate in a race among the teams. Designs were judged based on a number of categories, from presentation, to driving dynamics, to top speed, and the best team in each category received an award from Martina Bracht-Nienaber, Project Coordinator at zdi, and Karen Herold, supervisor of the laboratory “Energy”.
“Fortunately, the sun was shining brightly and all boats were watertight and ready to race. The resonance from participants in the workshop was really positive. They had a lot of fun and used a lot of innovative ideas and creative energy to design their boats”, said Bracht-Nienaber.
The zdi Centre cleverMINT for the district of Kleve aims to inspire young people from around the region for STEM, or in German ‘MINT’ subjects (Maths, IT, Natural Science and Technology). The zdi Centre’s programme also offers parents and kids a range of fun, extracurricular activities to do – even during holiday breaks.
The goal of the initiative is to offer a full range of science and technology related workshops through the district, in cooperation with Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences and project partners in local industry and schools. For example, this year the solar-powered boat workshop was supported by two specialists in training from the company KHS GmbH, who lent participants their know-how and expertise during the design and construction of their boats. On the last day of the workshop, participants also got the unique opportunity to visit KHS GmbH and take an interesting and informative tour with Martin Baufeld, who heads the company’s training division.
For an overview of upcoming events in the Energy programme, please see the flyer to the right or visit www.zdi-kleve.de (both in German).
With support from the European Regional Development Funds:
With additional support from:
