On Thursday, 02.06.2022, more than 25 pupils of the 4th grade of Schauenstein elementary school visited the Hof campus together with their teacher Andrea Fickenscher as part of an experience week.
At 10:30 a.m., the children started their “university day” with a lecture by Dr. Harvey Harbach about the aquaponics plant. Aquaponics is a combined production of aquaculture, which is the farming of fish and a plant production without the use of soil. Through this production process, residues inevitably produced by the fish are used directly by the crops for growth and removed from the water cycle. The water purified in this way can be used for longer and does not have to be replaced by fresh water. Water, energy and fertilizer are subsequently saved with aquaponics.
The topics of water and sustainability are covered in fourth-grade home and science (HSU) classes, and the kids asked Dr. Harbach lots of questions.
Off to the fairytale forest
Together with university president and lawyer Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c.. Jürgen Lehmann, the girls and boys then took a journey into the fairy tale forest and learned what crimes are committed in the well-known fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm from today’s perspective and what punishments the heroes in “Hansel and Gretel” would receive for this in 2022. The students had very clever answers to the President’s questions about whether it would be permissible to simply build a house in the forest, as in the fairy tale, or what would happen if parents simply abandoned children in the forest, like Hansel and Gretel.
Pizza break
After this exciting morning, the children were able to fortify themselves during a short lunch break with a pizza and drinks, sponsored by the Faculty of Continuing Education.
A real race car at the university
The kids started the afternoon with a visit to the student initiative “Hofspannung Motorsport e.V.”. The students were allowed to try out the “Bonnie” racing car constructed by the students and pestered the students with questions: “How do you build a racing car?”, “How long does it take to build such a car?” or “Do you drive real races with the car?”.
The culmination of the students’ “University Day” was a visit to the Makerspace, a high-tech workshop for trying things out. There, René Göhring showed the children what can be done with a 3D printer.
The students were very enthusiastic about their “University Day” in Hof and perhaps the university will be able to welcome one or the other as a “real” student at the university some day.