70 students and teachers from seven european countries came together and worked
together in the topic of biotechnology at JWS from 11.2. – 15.02.2020. The goal was to
evaluate hands on teaching modules focused on experiments about genetics and
epigenetics we developed in Thisted. The teaching modules should come in use at
European schools in the future.
The conducted experiments were a genetic fingerprint like in a forensic investigation
and the productiuon of a necklase filled with DNA isolated out of cheak cells of the
participant. In addition the mentors presented in international teams background
information about both experiments.
The project is supported by the European Union in the framework of Erasmus. „To bring
young people from different European countries together and give them the task to
work on an innovative and challenging topic of the future e.g. in Biotechnology, is one of
the main goals of the project. By this teamwork an added value is created and the
European Thinking is improved“, Ms Kagerhuber, headmistress of JWS in her speach
during the opening ceremony said.
Doreen Bayer, senior student of JWS, mentioned that the European Union gives us the
opportunity with the project to work together in international teams, to take
responsibility as well educated mentors and to gain within the week a lot of important
experiences for our future lifes.
In addition to the science and language skills the project also supports the intercultural
exchange. Invited by the mayor at Thursday morning a town hall reception took place.
After this we visited the jewelry museum and the technical museum of Pforzheim.
Thursday afternoon we visited three typical regional companies, focused on dental
technology Forestadent, medical care technology Admedes and chemical technology
C.Hafner.
Fitting perfectly to the project topics a visit of the global active Biotechnology company
Roche GmbH in Mannheim was on the schedule of Friday. A short welcome introduction
by the head of the company Mr. Haag, was followed by five guided tours through the
company in the morning and after lunch. A visit of Speyer cathedral gave an historical
view on German emperor families Salier and Staufer.
Since 2006 most of the partner schools are working together on the topic of
Biotechnology. During the years wonderful friendships were born. The former partner school from Istanbul took part in the meeting, not supported by the EU but happy to be
invited by the project coordinator.
After an impressive close down ceremony on Friday evening including a view back over
the week we had to say Good By, looking forward to seeing us again in Brno in May.