School Workshops in cooperation with Felix-Klein-Gymnasium and Hainberg-Gymnasium

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The concept of older pupils teaching the younger ones was tested in the elementary school in Friedland. The older pupils worked together with teachers to explain the experiments and discuss the results.

In order to provide a good learning experience for the elementary students, the high school students were trained on the experiments beforehand in order to assure that they understood the context of the experiments conducted and the topics the elementary students should learn about. The experiments and topics were divided up between the two High schools.  Students from the Hainberg-Gymnasium were trained to present the module on flying wheras students from the Felix-Klein-Gymnasium were trained to present the module on noise.

The module “flying” consisted of experiments about the equilibrium of forces, pressure, friction, and other interesting questions about the physics of flying. In order to demonstrate the equilibrium of forces for instance, a huge rubber ball with handles was used. Several pupils pulled it into different directions at the same time, only to observe that it did not move in spite of many forces acting on it.

In an experiment two syringes were connected with a flexible tube to demonstrate pressure effects.

The Influence of friction was demonstrated with toy cars on different surfaces.

 

The module “Sound and Noise” explains the generation and transmission of sound. Sound in air transportation is an important issue. Therefore the basic mechanisms of sound generation were taught. The pupils from the Felix-Klein-Gymnasium explained with a ruler how sound can be generated by vibrating surfaces.

Transmission of sound was demonstrated with a magnet rolling device to show that air molecules transmit energy

In an outdoor experiment the pupils measured the speed of sound. For this they used a starter clap in 100 m distance and two stop watches.