This past summer, I was awarded a fellowship to travel to Germany for two weeks as a 2018 Transatlantic Outreach Program (TOP) Fellow. Initiated in 2002, The TOP Program is a public/private partnership that seeks to be a leading provider of curriculum and study tour experiences relevant to contemporary Germany for educators. It is a subsidiary of the Goethe Instit, a non-profit German cultural institution that seeks to promote intercultural exchange around the world. Over two jam-packed weeks, 15 STEM educators from around the country toured cultural sites, schools, and environmentally progressive institutions with the hopes of promoting intercultural understanding between our home communities and Germany. Our two main themes for the study tour were Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education and vocational education:
We stayed in four areas during our trip: the small town of Adelsheim, Stuttgart, Duisburg, and Berlin.
Adelsheim
Our first destination was the Landesschulzentrum fur Umwelterziehung (LSZU), a school which offers teachers and pupils of all types of schools in the Baden-Wùrttemberg area the opportunity to intensively study environmental education. Teachers from the surrounding region can attend professional development at the school and bring their classes to the LSZU to use their facilities for instruction. For the first few days of the study tour, we engaged in professional development with German STEM teachers:
At the LSZU, we participated in a wonderful experiential lesson for middle school students on the importance of buying fair trade chocolate. The "fair trade" sticker on chocolate certifies that it was not only grown and harvested in a sustainable way, but that it fairly compensates every party involved in the production process.
The LSZU, along with the German education system as a whole, utilizes the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) goals set out by the United Nations. Here, the ESD goals are stated in German.
A farmhouse with solar panel roofing just outside of Adelsheim. Wind turbines and solar panels are quite common in Germany, even in the countryside.
Our time in Adelsheim was wonderful. We met and collaborated with fantastic STEM educators and gained valuable lesson plan ideas to better implement ESD curriculum in our own school communities.
Stuttgart
Our second destination was Stuttgart, a manufacturing hub of approximately 600,000 people. Stuttgart is also the home to Bosch, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche's corporate headquarters. Our first stop was the Robert Bosch Ausbildungszentrum to learn about the vocational training program for high school age students.
The private sector in Germany operates on a similar apprentice model.
Students can choose either the apprenticeship program or dual bachelor degree program. Unlike the United States, Germany does not adopt a "college for all" attitude. Instead, with the help of public-private partnerships, students with an interest in vocational trades can receive on the job skills training from top employers like Bosch.
In addition to our visit at Bosch, we also visited Trumpf, one of the world's largest producers of machine parts for factories. We were able to visit the factory floor and learn more about the intricate production methods used to punch, shape, bend and manufacture machine tools.
At Trumpf, the demand for industrial engineers, mechanics, and computer programmers underscores the importance of aligning K-12 STEM instruction with the needs of private industry.
This machine has 2,200 pound per square inch of punching power, and completes 1,000 strokes per minute, making it the fastest punching machine in the world!
The finished product! Pieces such as these are used in manufacturing facilities all over the world to produce numerous products you've probably used.
In addition to learning about vocational education programs at large companies, we also had some free time as well. We visited the Mercedes Benz Museum, located on the campus of their corporate headquarters. The museum chronicles the fascinating history of the 92 year old company as it adapted to the various trials and tribulations of 20th century Germany:
The first truck ever produced was by the parent company of Mercedes Benz in 1898. It had an impressive 12 horsepower!
1902 Maybach with a top speed of 50mph. Wilhelm Maybach, the inventor of this car, named his company after his daughter, Mercedes. Maybach eventually merged with Karl Benz, forming the Mercedes-Benz we know today.
Various midcentury limited-edition Mercedes on display. The 300slr, on the far left, is worth an estimated 68 million dollars! This is one of two known to exist in the entire world.
One of the most memorable experiences in Stuttgart was a delicious meal at a Turkish restaurant. With more than 4 million people of Turkish ancestry in Germany, Turks are the most sizable minority population in the country. Oktay Ince, a TOP Fellow of Turkish descent, introduced us to the varied and delicious cuisine of his home country:
Enjoying a delicious mug of Ayran, a cold savory yogurt based beverage.
We ordered way too much food at dinner! Fortunately, during our train ride from Stuttgart to Duisburg the next day, we feasted on Turkish leftovers while cruising at 186 miles an hour on the bullet train!
Duisburg
Our next stop was Duisburg, an industrial city in the state of North Rhine Westphalia. The greater Duisburg-Essen-Dusseldorf area has a strong history of steel and coal production and is currently undergoing a transformation to renewable energy production. Our first activity was a tour of the inner harbor of Duisburg, one of the largest river-adjacent harbors in the world:
In 2000, 50% of all steel production in Germany occurred in Duisburg. The port provided a convenient way to export coal and steel products all over the world.
One of the most fascinating excursions during the whole trip was to the Zollverein Industrial Complex just outside of Essen, Germany. Founded in 1847, this coal and coking plant operated continuously until 1986. Today, it is a testament to the industrial strength of the area as well as a relic of a bygone era of fossil fuel consumption:
Covering 13 square kilometers, the Zollverien Industrial Complex miraculously survived numerous bombing campaigns by the Allied forces during World War II.
The complex was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000
By the turn of the 20th century, the North Rhine-Westphalia region had highest concentration of jobs in Europe, thanks to it's strong steel and coal industry. Today, 1 in 3 jobs in the region are in the elder care industry.
The State of North Rhine Westphalia has been undergoing a dramatic shift away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy since the turn of the 21st century. Evidence of this shift can be seen throughout the region:
This mural was found on the side of a former coking plant. One quote that stands out says:
"Remember the earth is not dying, it is being murdered and the people murdering it have names and addresses..."
Even in a region that relied so heavily on steel and coal for more than a century, they have openly embraced the shift to renewable energy, as evidenced by these provocative murals of pollution
Receptacles like this are common throughout Germany, and illustrate the willingness of Germans to take a few extra seconds to ensure that their trash is properly recycled
We also visited the Europaschule Krupp-Gymnasium, an upper-secondary school that specializes in STEM instruction. Given the high percentage of immigrant families in North Rhine Westphalia, 57% of the students are either immigrants or children of immigrants, with a vast majority from Turkey. They boast an impressive pass rate on the Abitur, a college entrance exam similar to the SAT.
MINT, (The German equivalent of STEM) is intertwined in every aspect of the school. Europaschule recently celebrated it's 105th anniversary!
TOP Fellows Paul Desruisseaux and Deb Wines assisting students in dissecting a pig heart
We also paid a visit to the Phänomenia Erfahrungsfeld, an experiential playground for children to learn about science concepts. Pictured is yours truly in an optical allusion!
Next, we went to the Future through Innovotion (zdi) Centre Bochum IST(Innovation Centre School and Technology), a vocational track school that prepares students for vocational occupations at companies like Bosch or Trumpf. There, the principal recounted issues all too familiar to American educators: A lack of interest in STEM, difficulty finding qualified instructors, and the challenge of providing quality STEM education in an era of shrinking budgets. The next day, we boarded a train for our final destination, Berlin!
Berlin
After a 3 hour ride from Essen to Berlin, we finally arrived at the capital city. We began with a tour of famous sites and monuments:
The Berlin Victory Column, erected in 1873 to celebrate the victory in the Danish-Prussian and Austro-Prussian War
The Berlin Wall, a 96 mile concrete barricade that stood for 28 years
A view of Berlin from the top of the Berlin Cathedral
While the history of the capital city is fascinating, we were there to learn about STEM. We took a memorable day trip to the Feldheim renewable energy village, located 37 miles southwest of Berlin. This village of 150 people relies exclusively on wind and solar energy:
At 149 meteres tall, these wind turbines produce 7 million kilowatts of electricity a year! The average lifespan is 20 years.
Here is the service elevator to reach the rotor. You could easily fit 25 people inside the base of the largest wind turbines
We also visited the ReDi School of digital Integration, a non-profit digital school for tech-interested newcomers in Germany. They offer students training and the opportunity to collaborate with start-up and digital technology firms. With 55,000 available jobs in the tech sector, ReDi School looks to equip the under and unemployed with the skills necessary to access 21st century tech careers. Microsoft, Cisco, Facebook and others partner with the Redi School to teach Python Data Science, IT support and other skills to a largely immigrant student body, free of charge. Given the increasing number of refugees in Germany, ReDi school serves as a vital resource for newcomers to access the burgeoning job market.
More than 43 nationalities are represented at the ReDi school. Pictured are student's brainstorming ideas on future classes. The philosophy at ReDi School is simple: Stop talking about refugees, and start talking with refugees.
That evening, we went on a walking tour of Berlin monuments. Free of tourists, the walk provided a great opportunity to familiarize ourselves with a few important historical locations:
The Brandenburg Gate
Checkpoint Charlie
The site of Hitler's Bunker, and presumed site of his suicide attempt. It is nothing more than a parking lot.
Remembrance Culture
During the trip, one of my personal goals was to learn more about Remembrance Culture in Germany. Remembrance Culture refers to the way in which a society interacts with and remembers it's past. In an attempt to respectfully and honestly address the war, tyranny and genocide committed by the Third Reich during the 20th century, Germany has enacted a multitude of memorials, plaques, and monuments to the victims of National Socialism:
Stumbling blocks are raised inscriptions that commemorate the former residences of victims of Nazism. They are designed to protrude from the ground as a way of forcing passerby to notice them.
A Holocaust Memorial at the site of the Stuttgart Deportation site, where the Jewish community was deported to various concentration camps
At the only active synagogue in Duisburg, a police truck stands on watch, 24/7, 365 to prevent vandalism. Per federal law, all synagogues must be protected by the police
In Conclusion
The previous two weeks in Germany have been one of the best professional development experiences I've ever had. I was thoroughly impressed with the thoughtful planning that went into providing a thematically-relevant tour of STEM and vocational education. Equally impressive were my colleagues on the trip: we boasted 3 (!!) PhDs, one state teacher of the year, and decades of teaching and leadership experience. One of the personal highlights for me was watching my colleagues light up when we encountered a theme that directly related to their field. For example, when we visited Adelsheim, the environmental science teachers lit up at the opportunity to learn more about and contribute to environmental education. During our visit to Bosch and Trumpf, the technology and engineering teachers marveled at the technological prowess of the 16 year old apprentices, and the biology teachers lit up at the opportunity to dissect a pig's heart with German high school students. Overall, the TOP Program gave me a much deeper and profound appreciation for modern Germany and a ton of lesson plan ideas!
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