Science entertainer Joe Hecker conducts an experiment on sound waves with the assistance of Sarah Cook-Wheeler of Cony High School in Augusta, Maine. URI photo by Michael Salerno.
By Neil Nachbar
The University of Rhode Island’s International Engineering Program (IEP) hosted its Annual Colloquium on International Engineering Education recently, as it has every other year since the event was founded by the IEP 21 years ago.
To engage high school students who have an interest in studying the German language and science-related subjects, the IEP added German-STEM Immersion Day to the weekend’s events.
The day after the two-day colloquium, 79 students from 11 New England high schools came to URI for an agenda that included a guest speaker, a campus tour and hands-on science lessons taught in German.
URI College of Engineering Dean Raymond Wright welcomed the students to URI and introduced German science entertainer/author Joachim (Joe) Hecker. Using everyday objects, Hecker performs fun science experiments at schools throughout the United States and Germany.
Hecker’s presentation and the workshops that followed took place in Quinn and Swan Halls. The workshops covered the following topics: Building Bridges; Cakes and Cookies with and without Baking; Capturing CO2; Cars, Car Parts, and Materials; Catapult Construction and Calibration; Colorful Crafts; Guerrilla Gardening; Logic Circuits: How do Computers Compute; M³: Mind-Boggling Mathematical (non-)Magic; Marshmallow Challenge; Measuring – in Europe vs. the U.S.; Salt; The Shape of Water; and Veganism.
Students learned about fluid mechanics by making slime.
A combination of URI professors from various disciplines and IEP students led the students the high school students through the workshops.
The faculty included Gerhard Muller, physics; Godi Fischer, engineering; Sigrid Berka, German and IEP executive director; Niko Tracksdorf, German; Shawna Rambur, German; and Karina Lammert, German. The following URI students assisted: Michael Eggleston, Montara Erickson, Malia Erickson, Maximillian Hill, Timo Kuester, Brian McDonough and Anne Reisch.
“For some of these high school students, it was their first time using the German language outside of the classroom,” said Tracksdorf, organizer of the event. “To watch them work in teams to solve engineering design challenges and puzzles, create crafts, and learn about different subjects while using the German language was very gratifying. You could see how proud they were of what they accomplished.”
“My students are still talking about their experience at URI,” said Cynthia Hodgden, German language teacher at ConVal Regional High School in Peterborough, N.H. “They used to think German was just for fun or for travel, but after the immersion event, they recognize how much it can really help with a professional career. We are very grateful to the URI International Engineering Program for hosting this event.”
The other 10 schools represented at German-STEM Immersion Day were Cony High School, Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School, Falmouth Academy, German School of Connecticut, Nashoba Regional High School, New Hampshire German Language School, North Andover High School, North Kingstown High School, Pinkerton Academy and Wellesley High School.
The students who arrived a day earlier for the colloquium had the option of attending a job and internship fair organized and co-sponsored by the Goethe Institute of Boston. Representatives from German universities, foundations, exchange organizations, companies and the German Consulate presented possible career paths.
The high school students also learned what it’s like to study and work in Germany from URI IEP alumni who shared their experiences in panel discussions.
- View photos from German-STEM Immersion Day