From August 3 to 6, as part of the Experiment Days, students ages 13 to 18 had the opportunity to explore the basics of Electrical Engineering and programming in three varied workshops, as well as gain exciting insights into the studies in Environmental Technology.
The first two days focused on bats. The students started with some theory on the basics of physics and familiarized themselves with electronic components. Then they had practical experience: they soldered and assembled various parts, resulting in a fully functional bat detector. To examine whether the detectors really worked, the students took their devices out to search for an ultrasonic source that lecturer Dr. Alexander Dörr had hidden on the campus. The first test run was a success: All the detectors triggered, and the source of the ultrasonic waves was quickly located.
On the Trail of Bats
To wrap up the workshop on Tuesday evening, Wolf Emmer from the “Bats” working group of NABU Groß-Gerau took the young people and interested parents on a journey into the world of these small nocturnal flyers. He shared stories from his volunteer work with bats and captivated the audience with fascinating details about the lives of these nocturnal mammals. The highlight of the evening was the “hunt” for bats using the detectors they had built. And lo and behold: around the outdoor pool at the Lache (right next to the campus), participants spotted the pipistrelle bat and the soprano pipistrelle.
Coding for Beginners
During the second workshop, the young people dove into programming with the Raspberry Pi Pico. Dieter Carbon, head of the “Internet Security” working group at the VDI-Rheingau district association, explained the basics and worked with the participants to develop various commands in the Micro Python programming language. The teens were quickly able to run their first simple program on the Raspberry Pi Pico, and then, in a second step, they programmed a traffic light circuit and generated music.
Plastic, But Please Make It Biodegradable
The Experiment Days concluded with a workshop exclusively for girls, held as part of the “Girls in STEM” project. Karina Mohr, a student of Environmental Technology, explored the world of plastics with the students. They learned where they come into contact with plastics in their daily lives, how a sustainable cycle works, and how plastics can be made from biodegradable materials. In the process laboratory, the students then got to make their own bioplastic from starch, water, vinegar, and glycerin. The result was a thin plastic film.
JugendUNI project
The Experiment Days are a joint event organized by the Youth Services Department of the City of Rüsselsheim am Main and the Faculty of Engineering at Hochschule RheinMain – University of Applied Sciences and Arts as part of the JugendUNI project for 13- to 18-year-olds. The workshop for girls was also supported by the City of Rüsselsheim’s Girls’ Programs Office.