How can a car detect obstacles - and what does this have to do with electrical engineering? Pupils in year 9 at Städtisches Gymnasium Gevelsberg got to the bottom of this exciting question together with Prof. Dr. Simone Arnold and students from Fachhochschule Dortmund.
During a project week before the summer vacations, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at Fachhochschule Dortmund held a special workshop. The aim was to give young people a practical insight into the world of electrical engineering and to spark their interest in studying engineering at an early age. "We built cars with the students, which they then programmed themselves so that they could recognize obstacles and avoid them," reports Prof. Arnold. They spent six hours plugging, screwing and programming - some students didn't even want to go to break. The young people experienced how a technical project is developed from the idea to the functional prototype.
What was particularly valuable was that the pupils were able to interact directly with students from Fachhochschule Dortmund. They not only learned more about the course content, but also about life at the university, got to know everyday student life and conditions first-hand and were able to ask any questions they had about studying.
Application-oriented electrical engineering you can touch
"Studying at Fachhochschule Dortmund is practical and application-oriented - and that's what we wanted to convey to the students," says Prof. Arnold. "They put something together in a very practical way and learned about how electronics work and programming. These are exciting insights into a part of electrical engineering."
The offer was well received by the young people and showed how tangible and exciting STEM subjects are when they are taught in a practical way.
Interested in an offer for your school?
Fachhochschule Dortmund offers such workshops not only in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, but also in other faculties and for various types of schools in the region. Teachers and schools interested in working together can schule-hochschulefh-dortmundde the school-university team by email at schule-hochschule@fh-dortmund.de.
Further offers for schools can be found on the student campus of Fachhochschule Dortmund at www.fh-dortmund.de/schuelercampus. In addition to video insights into studying, there are also contacts to the student advisors.