Successful premiere: First meerMINT workshop at Dock Nord for high school students at Jacobs University
August 19, 2021
What they liked the most? Definitely the experiments! "Steering a boat with just our minds – that’s not something we would do in school," said Carlina Heutling. The 13-year-old high school student was one of the participants in the first meerMINT Workshop at Jacobs University. The topic: "Brain and body – a dream team?"
, Participant Sophie Meschalkin and PhD student Amir Jahanian Najafabadi measured and trained respiration by using neuro-biofeedback setup. (Source: Jacobs University) How does the brain control our behavior and our body? How do they interact? How do we learn? How can brain activity be recorded? These were some of the questions the high school students explored in a variety of experiments, such as measuring the brain's electrical activity, neurofeedback and biofeedback. Due to the coronavirus, and because the laboratories are very small, the number of participants was limited to four. "Not everything was easy to understand right away – but then it became more clear with the experiments," said 15-year-old Richard Stoppok. Sophie Meschalkin (14) enjoyed the fact that she could apply her language skills at the same time, because the workshop was held mainly in English.
It was led by Amir Jahanian Najafabadi and Hadis Imani – PhD students in neuroscience at Jacobs University, who also came up with the idea for the workshop. "We wanted to offer something informative and practical, hence all the interactive elements," Amir Jahanian Najafabadi explained, "the students can learn a lot for their daily lives, for example about self-awareness, sleep and concentration. It is also fun to work with them; they're very open-minded." Ben Godde, professor of neuroscience, provided the introduction to the topic.
"With meerMINT, we want to awaken young people's interest and enthusiasm for the subjects of mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology," said Juliane Kuhlmann, base manager of meerMINT Dock Nord, "Jacobs University is the ideal location for this in Bremen-Nord." If corona permits, there will be club offerings for all STEM enthusiasts between the ages of 10 and 16 at fixed times starting in September. During those events participants can craft, program, research or simply chat together. Further workshops are also in the pipeline. All offers are free of charge.
About meerMINT:
meerMINT is one of 22 educational clusters currently funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The network’s members in Bremen and Bremerhaven are building four new bases for meerMINT – known as meerMINT docks – which will make STEM related activities (mathematics, computer science, natural sciences, technology) more accessible to local communities, and will be offered during fixed opening hours. The dock for Bremen-Nord is located at Jacobs University Bremen. The other local members of the meerMINT network are the University of Bremen, M2C - Institut für angewandte Medienforschung GmbH, PHÄNOMENTA Bremerhaven e.V. and Universum Managementgesellschaft mbH.
More information:
https://www.jacobs-university.de/meermint
Questions can be addressed to:
Juliane Kuhlmann
Base Manager meerMINT-Dock Nord
Email: j.kuhlmann [at] jacobs-university.de