A Forward-Looking Educational Partnership

On September 12, 2024, the seventh meeting of the Zittau Junior Academy Workshop took place. Teachers and practical advisors from regional schools and the university came together to support the establishment of the Zittau Junior Academy in collaboration with the DLR_School_Lab at the University of Zittau/Görlitz. The DLR_School_Lab at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences is being established and operated in cooperation with the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The opening is planned for early 2025.

Background and Objectives of the Zittau Junior Academy Workshop

The goal of the workshop is to create a meeting place where teachers and practice advisors from regional schools can regularly engage in dialogue with staff members of the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences (HSZG). Through this exchange, the collaboration between the HSZG and the schools is to be further expanded and sustainably strengthened. Together, they will develop, test, and evaluate needs-based and target-group-appropriate extracurricular educational programs, such as experiments and, in the future, afternoon and vacation programs. By actively involving teachers and practice advisors in the process of developing these experiments, concrete connections to curriculum content can be established, and the individual needs and interests of the students can be better addressed.

Through the Zittau Junior Academy and the DLR_School_Lab at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, the university administration aims to inspire students’ enthusiasm for science and technology and to offer unique learning experiences. In addition to imparting specialized knowledge and encouraging independent experimentation, students gain exciting insights into current research at the university and the DLR.

Work in the Workshop

The first workshop session focused on getting to know one another. Professor Sophia Keil, Vice President for Education and International Affairs, presented the university’s strategic initiative “Zukunftslernort Oberlausitz” (ZukLOS), followed by Christian Tiller, the Scientific Director of ZukLOS, who explained the workshop’s objectives. Together, they invited those present to help shape the Zittau Junior Academy. In a Word Café session that followed, participants discussed expectations for the Zittau Junior Academy in collaboration with the DLR_School_Lab at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, the needs of the schools, and the organization of the partnership. Among other things, the discussion yielded the following key findings: The teachers expressed a desire for extracurricular educational programs that could ideally be conducted with an entire class in 4-hour blocks or 90-minute sessions. In addition, the schools’ high need for experimental equipment available for loan was emphasized. Furthermore, the teachers expressed great interest in long-term collaboration and the joint development of extracurricular educational programs, particularly in the context of the Zittau Junior Academy.

At the workshop’s second meeting, initial experiments related to the DLR’s research priorities were selected; from the schools’ perspective, these are to be offered at the DLR_School_Lab at the University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz. This selection covers a broad spectrum of topics such as robotics, IT and security, weightlessness, fuel cells, and lightweight construction. The teachers also expressed a desire to work together in the workshop to develop teaching materials for the preparation, implementation, and follow-up of the experiments. At the same time, they emphasized the importance of reliability regarding the availability of these programs for the schools.

At the third workshop meeting, Mr. Riedel from the ZukLOS team reported on the visit to the DLR_School_Lab in Berlin, which Professor Keil and her colleagues had explored together. The purpose of the visit was to familiarize themselves with the experiments on site, to observe the experiments being conducted with a school class, and to discuss the next steps for establishing the DLR_School_Lab at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences. Subsequently, five working groups were formed to focus on various thematic areas (e.g., natural fibers, heat pumps, science experiments, and biotechnology) in order to develop experiments aligned with the Saxon state curriculum.

In the following meetings (four through six), Mr. Tiller from the ZukLOS core team first reported on ZukLOS’s key activities over the past few weeks and explained the current status of the Junior Academy’s development. Afterward, each working group briefly presented the current status of their experiments. Following this, the groups continued their work intensively to further develop the experiments and adapt them to the students’ prior knowledge.

At the meeting on September 12, Dr. rer. nat. habil. Thomas Fester was introduced as a new member of the ZukLOS staff. He has served as the operational director of ZukLOS since August 1, 2024. In the coming months, he will play a key role in overseeing the opening of the DLR_School_Lab at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences and will develop experiments in collaboration with Mr. Tiller, the scientific director of ZukLOS, as well as teachers and HSZG staff.

In addition, Mr. Orest Lytvyn has joined the team as a volunteer. Mr. Lytvyn is completing a one-year Voluntary Social Year (FJN) at ZukLOS in the fields of science, technology, and sustainability. During this year, he will play a key role in supporting the establishment and operation of the Zittau Junior Academy in conjunction with the DLR_School_Lab at the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences. His responsibilities include supervising students as they conduct experiments and contributing to the development and refinement of experiments related to the research priorities of the HSZG and other research institutions, particularly the DZA and CASUS. He will also assist with special events such as school project days, STEM project weeks, and Kinder Academies.

The next steps involve assessing the needs of the working groups and procuring the necessary materials. Additionally, the plan is to test the developed experiments with two school classes from each participating school, if possible. Feedback from students and teachers will be incorporated into the optimization of the experiments. The first round of the planned experiments is scheduled for the end of the year.