XLAB
XLAB for Göttingen's experimental laboratory for young people is one of the largest German school laboratories . It is located in its own building on the north campus of the University of Göttingen . The XLAB has been a central facility of the University of Göttingen since January 1, 2018.
tasks
On four floors, which are assigned to the various departments of the XLAB, schoolchildren, teachers and students can experiment independently under professional guidance. The experimental internships at XLAB show current scientific findings using the most modern methods and offer classic experiments in all natural sciences. The experimental courses are intended to convey to the participants that science and technology are now networked in terms of content and method and can therefore no longer be viewed in isolation as individual specialist disciplines. The courses reach around 12,000 participants a year. In addition, XLAB is involved in the training of teachers as part of the cooperation with the University of Göttingen.
The tasks are funded by the income of the XLAB Foundation, which has foundation assets of 100,000 euros (as of 2019).
history
After the development of an initial concept in 1996 for the establishment of an experimental laboratory and the submission of the concept to the Lower Saxony state government in 1998 , the pilot phase began in 1999 with five courses for school classes. In the same year a workshop took place in the auditorium of the university, in which representatives from science organizations, the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science , companies and the university took part.
Eva-Maria Neher founded the association in 2000 . Since then, the current president of the University of Göttingen has been the chairman of the board. In the same year, experimental courses were started in the fields of chemistry and computer science. In 2001, the physics and biology departments were expanded by using the internship rooms in the physics department and the biology department was established in the premises of the geoscientific institutes.
In 2003 the first "International Science Camp" was held.
Today's XLAB building goes back to an architectural competition from 2001; the building was constructed from 2002 to 2004 by the competition winners , Bez + Kock Architects from Stuttgart. The first “Science Festival” took place here in December 2004. Scientists spoke to more than 3,000 school and university students and interested adults. In 2005, regular operations began in the new building.
In 2006 the XLAB became one of the 365 Landmarks in the Land of Ideas , and the XLAB Alumni Association was founded in the same year.
In 2007, Federal President Horst Köhler visited the XLAB, the 50,000th School day celebrated. On November 20, 2007, the founder Eva-Maria Neher was awarded the Lower Saxony State Prize.
In 2011, the state of Lower Saxony decided to provide long-term support. In 2014 the association got a supervisory board , already with a view to a later affiliation to the university, which then took place at the beginning of January 2018. On January 1, 2019, the chemist Thomas Waitz took over the management.
program
Experimental courses for school classes from home and abroad
School classes from Lower Saxony and the whole of Germany have been taking part in one to multi-day experimental courses since 2000. The group of participating schools expanded in the following years to include school classes from Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy. Medical students from the University of Seville have been attending the University of Seville since 2005, and since 2007 pupils and students from the Korean Science Academy have regularly attended courses lasting several weeks at the XLAB.
International Science Camps
Since 2003 around 36 to 60 schoolchildren and students have taken part in the International Science Camps every year; since 2006 there has been one camp in July and one in August.
The camps include three weeks of intensive laboratory work in the XLAB and in the University of Göttingen. The camps end with a visit to the federal capital Berlin. Since 2003, more than 450 pupils and students have taken part in these camps. A total of 41 nations were represented. The courses are held in English.
The organizational principle of the International Science Camps is based on the programs of scientific workshops. During the day, the courses work closely with research and in the evening people meet for sporting or cultural activities. At the end of the week, the results will be presented to the plenary. For the most part, the young people from abroad visit this international science camp to get to know Germany and possibly later to start studying in Germany. This is shown by the numerous responses from former participants.
Science Festival
Since moving into the new building, the XLAB has organized a “Science Festival” every year at the turn of the year at the schools, which is under the patronage of the Göttingen Nobel Prize winner Manfred Eigen . With lectures by top-class scientists, high school students and the general public are invited to be introduced to current scientific topics. The title of the publication series alludes to the ivory tower of science, which through the work of XLAB is intended to open up to a wider audience of young people. More than 13,000 listeners have participated since 2004.
literature
- Eva-Maria Neher (Ed.): From the ivory towers of science: 1st XLAB Science Festival . Wallstein, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-89244-989-9
- Eva-Maria Neher (Ed.): From the ivory towers of science: 2nd XLAB Science Festival . Wallstein, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-8353-0055-5
- Eva-Maria Neher (Ed.): From the ivory towers of science: 3rd XLAB Science Festival . Wallstein, Göttingen 2007, ISBN 978-3-8353-0170-2
- Eva-Maria Neher (Ed.): From the ivory towers of science: 4th XLAB Science Festival . Wallstein, Göttingen 2010, ISBN 978-3-8353-0767-4
- Eva-Maria Neher (Ed.): From the ivory towers of science: 5th XLAB Science Festival . Wallstein, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-8353-1027-8
- Eva-Maria Neher (Ed.): From the ivory towers of science: 6th XLAB Science Festival . Wallstein, Göttingen 2013, ISBN 978-3-8353-1309-5
- Catharine Goodman: From students to scientists at XLAB , Nature Chem. Biol., 2009 ( doi : 10.1038 / nchembio0409-194 )
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ XLAB Foundation. In: xlab-goettingen.de. Retrieved February 13, 2019 .
- ↑ Christiane Böhm: XLab founder receives initiative award. In: Goettinger-Tageblatt.de. January 8, 2019, accessed February 11, 2019 .
Coordinates: 51 ° 33 '33.9 " N , 9 ° 57' 0.1" E