The Faculty of Technology and Bionics, together with the zdi Centre ‘Kreis Kleve cleverMINT’, is supporting the Freiherr-vom-Stein-Gymnasium in Kleve by offering workshops on the topic of ‘renewable energy’.
On 1 and 2 February 2017, project days on the theme of ‘Environment & Sustainability’ took place at the Freiherr-vom-Stein-Gymnasium in Kleve. The event covered numerous aspects of caring for the environment, ranging from healthy eating and eco-friendly clothing to waste prevention, proper waste sorting and the use of renewable energy – everything was included.
The existing, highly effective collaboration between the Freiherr-vom-Stein-Gymnasium, Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences and the zdi network ‘Zukunft durch Innovation’ (Future through Innovation) was to be further developed as part of the project days, following the successful completion last year of a joint project on “Modern Forms of Energy Storage” in the Advanced Physics course.
With the support of the Faculty of Technology and Bionics and under the guidance of Prof. Georg Bastian, Professor of Applied Optoelectronics and Laser Physics at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences, as well as physics teacher Christian Lennartz from the Freiherr-vom-Stein Gymnasium in Kleve, the pupils carried out experiments on the first day of the project in the university’s student laboratory on the topic of ‘Solar thermal energy/use of renewable energies’, using professional experimental set-ups to explore the technology of solar thermal energy conversion and renewable heat generation.
On the second day, a second project group, also under the guidance of Prof. Georg Bastian and trainee physics teacher Mirko Braschos, built ‘dye-sensitised solar cells’, carrying out experiments on current-voltage curves, efficiency and spectral sensitivity.
The pupils taking part were absolutely thrilled by the experimental opportunities available in the ‘Energy’ pupil laboratory. The exciting experiments provided the young researchers with a wealth of new insights. After lunch in the university canteen – amongst ‘real’ students – the projects concluded on both afternoons with visits to the laboratories of the Department of Physics at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences. Everyone agreed: this successful collaboration between Stein-Gymnasium, Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences and the zdi Centre for the Kleve District, cleverMINT, should be continued and further strengthened in the future.
