In order to encourage junior scientists, the Technology Forum developed a special Schools Programme: Each year 120 senior pupils now are given the opportunity to experience science and technology research up close. 

The Schools Programme is supervised by Prof. Dr. Johannes Huber (see also the BAdW peoples pages)

Organisation and contact: Maja Bechtold (E-Mail)

Technology influences our lives today not only in matters of communication, mobility and energy supply, but also with regard to career and leisure. Modern technologies though are highly complex and their functioning almost not comprehensible any more. And that is exactly the reason, why it is becoming ever more difficult to get young people enthusiastic regarding relevant studies. Educating highly qualified junior staff in natural sciences and engineering is a prerequisite though for the future viability of modern societies.

Wir hoffen, das Schülerprogramm ab Herbst 2021 wieder anbieten zu können.

The Technology Forum’s Schools Programme enables talented young people, to become much more closely involved with current issues in natural sciences and engineering than the average school life may allow for. Every year about 100 Bavarian senior pupils from high schools and specialised secondary schools are invited to attend a one-and-a-half day information programme.

In the run-up, schools – evenly distributed across the seven Bavarian counties plus the greater Munich area – are being asked to nominate one female and one male student who have excelled in the so-called MINT subjects (mathematics, information science, natural sciences and technology). Since 2019, also some pupils are invited, who participated successfully in the regional "Youth research" competitions.

Touring high-ranking research institutions in the greater Munich area is a core activity within the Schools Programme, as well as attending the scientific symposia organised by the Technology Forum. It is seen again and again that the enthusiasm portrayed by the researchers both for their specific discipline and their individual research does have a great impact on the students, communicating important impulses for their own choice of study and profession.

2019 besuchten die Schülerinnen und Schüler das Forschungs­zent­rum Garching. Zunächst erklärte ihnen Prof. Dr. Gerhard Abstreiter, was sich hinter dem Begriff „Kernspin” verbirgt. Anschließend erfuhren sie in kleinen Gruppen zum einen im Bayerischen NMR-Zentrum mehr über die Visualisie­rung von NMR-Experimen­ten (http://spindrops.org/), über Lösungs- und Festkörper-NMR-Spektros­kopie, über die rekombi­nante Produktion von Biomole­külen und wie sich Proteinstruk­turen 3-dimensio­nal darstellen lassen. Zum anderen zeigten ihnen Mitarbeiter anhand ihrer Forschungs­pro­jekte am Walter-Schottky-Institut der TUM, wie Halbleiter-Nanostruk­turen hergestellt und wie Elektronenspin­reso­nanz und magneto-optische Spektrosko­pie angewendet werden. Nach einem Mittagsimbiss nahmen die Schülerinnen und Schüler an der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaf­ten in München an dem öffentlichen Symposium des Forums Technologie zum Thema „Kernspin – Physikalische Grundlagen und Anwendun­gen im Alltag” teil.

Das Forum Technologie dankt an dieser Stelle nochmals Herrn Abstreiter und allen an den Führungen beteiligen Wissenschaft­lern am Bayerischen NMR-Zentrum und am Walter-Schottky-Institut, die mit viel Engagement den Vormittag geplant und gestaltet haben und denen es gelungen ist, ihre komplexen Forschungs­pro­jekte den Schülerin­nen und Schülern anschaulich und spannend nahezubrin­gen.

The Schools Programme is facilitated by generous support from the Academy’s Foundation funds.