This time, youth research is only online

Moving to the summer was not an option
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This time, youth research is only online

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Advertising for Jugend forscht (from left): Thomas Zöllner, head of the regional competition, last year’s winner Maximiliane Otto, Ralf Wimmer, deputy managing director of the entrepreneurship, and Anna Karl, regional winner 2019.
Photo: Lammertz, Thomas (lamb)

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Krefeld “We have 123 registrations with 218 young people involved. That’s a good number. Especially since we had a comparatively high dropout rate. We attribute that to Corona, ”says Ralf Wimmer from the entrepreneurship.

The past two winners of the Jugend Forscht regional competition show that the competition not only introduces young people to science, it also brings direct results for the here and now. As in the case of last year’s winner Maximiliane Otto. “During a technical paper, I had the idea that there is a great deal of tension in corona prevention. Namely that between infection prevention on the one hand and climate protection on the other. If I’m constantly ventilating and the heaters are running at the same time, then I’m wasting a lot of energy. If I ventilate too little, the risk of infection increases,” says the 17-year-old, who wants to do her Abitur at Moltke-Gymnasium this year. Her solution: “I got various numbers from institutes such as the Max Planck Institute and used them to develop an Excel tool that calculates the optimal ventilation time depending on the size of the room, the number and type of windows, the occupancy of the room, the interior and outside temperature and so on,” she explains. The tool is used by the teachers in their school, even if the school mainly follows the guidelines of the ministry.

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Her predecessor, the 2019 winner, Anna Karl, in turn developed a chemical process to improve catalytic converters and filter nitrogen oxides from exhaust gases. “There was even interest from industry. Unfortunately, Corona put a stop to that,” says the 22-year-old medical student. This year, however, much of what gripped her about the competition will not be experienced. “The final event is really great. It’s a trade fair atmosphere, there are other participants, parents, jurors, everyone comes to your stand. When the prize is awarded, you stand in front of 1000 people and receive the certificate, it’s an incredible experience,” enthuses the Moerserin.

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The participants in 2022, like last year’s winner Otto, will not have this experience. “Due to the escalating pandemic situation, we have decided to hold the event online again this year. It is currently not foreseeable that the situation could improve noticeably by the beginning of March. On the contrary. Last year we had good experiences with the online version and will do it this way again this year,” explains Ralf Wimmer, Deputy Managing Director of the Niederrhein Entrepreneurship, which acts as organizer.

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This is a challenge for the jury and the participants. “But we saw last year that things are going well. We will change the processes a bit again, for example the presentation of the winners will take place two days after the presentation. This works in such a way that the participants are activated for the jurors. Then they have five minutes to present their project. Ten minutes of questioning follow. Then it is the turn of the next group or the next participant,” emphasizes the head of the regional competition, Thomas Zöllner.

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The head of the Krefeld Gymnasium am Moltkeplatz sees advantages and disadvantages of the online format. “In general, of course, we would like to be present and experience the closing event. But it’s not all bad either. It’s much easier to bring the jury together, for example,” reports the teacher. In this capacity he has been responsible for the competition since 2018. Previously he was a member of the jury himself.

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Despite the restrictions caused by the pandemic, the event was very successful again this year. “We have a total of 123 registrations with 218 young people taking part. That’s a good number. Especially since we had a comparatively high dropout rate. We attribute this to Corona. In view of this fact, the number of those who actually handed something in at the end is really very good,” says Wimmer, assessing the current participation.

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By the way: Moving to the summer, when the incidence should go down again, was not an option. “The state and national competitions follow. And they can’t be moved at will either, because then it’s on to the holidays and next year’s competition,” he continues. For reasons of health responsibility, the only decision left was an online version. And hope for the future. “The fact that we can do it online at all is a special Corona rule. But we are hopeful that we will put all that behind us in 2023 and have a face-to-face event again,” he says. The young inventors would no doubt be delighted.

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