Public Outreach

Schülerinnenprojektwoche 2019

From October 14th to October 18th, the Schülerinnenprojektwoche, a 5-day workshop for girls attending grades 8 to 10, took place at the Ruhr-University. In collaboration with the zdi-Netzwerk IST.Bochum, three workshops were offered during the week.

This year’s projects discussed plasma physics, astronomy and sustainable building for the future. 10 pupils participated in the plasma project "Welt der Plasmen". Under the guidance of students and research assistants, the pupils learned about what a plasma is, where to find it in nature and how plasmas can be used for industrial applications. The process of sputtering for coating applications was demonstrated and investigated using a mobile sputtering chamber. The pupils analysed the coatings by microscopy and measurements of their optical transmission and electrical conductivity. Furthermore, they had the chance to coat a small object they brought from home. Next to jewellery, shells and coins, even a hard disk was coated. Next to the workshops, the students had the chance to ask students about their experiences at the Ruhr-University, attend a lecture on experimental physics, visit two labs and visit the show "Die Wunder des Kosmos" at the Zeiss-Planetarium in Bochum. At the end of the week, each group presented their achievements and results on posters which were presented during a poster session, followed by a quiz and pizza.