OIST Seminar: New Horizons in Science Education – Motivating Young Students to take the Challenge

OIST Seminar
New Horizons in Science Education – Motivating Young Students to take the Challenge
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Eva-Maria Neher, XLAB – Goettingen Experimental Laboratory for Young People, Goettingen, Germany

Only a few years after XLAB opened its doors in 1999 to local high school students, its distinguished concept to raise student’s interest in science and to encourage them to pursue scientific careers is very much accepted. Several thousands of students participate in its courses every year.

At XLAB, school classes or individual students do hands-on experiments in Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Computer science with state-of-the-art-equipment under professional guidance. The key to XLAB’s success are professionalism, intensity and internationality. A wide-reaching network of co-operations with the university and other scientific institutes ensures the standard of professionalism. The intensity of the courses in XLAB allows a significant expansion of the school curriculum.

Since 2003 XLAB organizes International Science Camps. The participants are selected among highly motivated applicants from Germany, Europe and all over the world.

Many students develop an increased interest in natural sciences while others discover skills and interests within themselves that they didn’t know they had.

The number of participants in the International Science Camps is limited but the request for experimental training at XLAB is much higher. Consequently XLAB signed agreements  with many countries worldwide and year after year groups of young students are sent.