STEM - Youth Presents

Youth Presents, The First School Competition at GISW

This year, for the first time, the GISW has invited students from grades 4 to 12 to participate in the competition, Jugend präsentiert (Youth Presents). The competition is a German nationwide educational initiative of the Klaus Tschira Foundation, in cooperation with Wissenschaft im Dialog (Science in Dialogue), Berlin, with the purpose of promoting presentation skills. One of the great challenges in everyday life is presenting knowledge and ideas in a comprehensible way, finding appropriate words and to appear confident and convincing while presenting a scientific topic.

Initially, 51 students responded to the invitation to create a five-minute presentation on a scientific topic of their own choice. At the end of May finished video clips from 20 teams were submitted.

The 4th grade participants qualified after a class competition and presented their ideas for building a water desalinization plant, with the help of self-made models and posters. All other contributions were created on the teams' own initiative, encouraged by their STEM teachers.

It was not easy for the jury, consisting of colleagues from the school’s STEM team, to select the best presentations from the very impressive entries. Important criteria included the way in which the topic was depicted, for example the use of body language and voice or the design and illustrative value of the presentation slides and how comprehensible the presentation was to student peers. Of course, factual correctness in the presentation of the topic was a key element. Here are some examples:

The winners were determined in the categories grades 4, 5/6 and 7-9 and received certificates and gift card prizes. In the new school year, all interested participants current and new, from grade 6 onwards will have the opportunity to further revise their presentations in guided workshops and then submit them to the nationwide Jugend präsentiert competition in November.

Even students who have not yet managed to complete their video may submit their contributions directly to Jugend präsentiert between November 1 to February 15, 2024.

Thank you very much for participating and good luck in the next round.

Ms. Bankert and Ms. Colopy

STEM Team Teachers