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Three out of four awards for excellent teaching go to the University of Kassel
Image: University of Kassel."I am very pleased that three projects from our university are being honored for excellent teaching this year," explained Vice President Prof. Dr. René Matzdorf. "This shows the diversity of ideas that exist in Kassel and proves that these ideas are given broad scope in our teaching offerings." The award-winning teaching formats come from the fields of architecture, mathematics didactics and ecological agricultural sciences.
Students plan student house
Architecture students learn planning not only theoretically, but prepare actual construction projects at the university - that is the core idea of the teaching format "Students Plan for Students," which received the €30,000 2nd prize in the Working Group/Organizational Unit category. One of the results is a house for student initiatives, which is currently being built on campus.
The seminar format was developed by Prof. Wolfgang Schulze, Department of Design in Urban Context, and Prof. Dr.-Ing Jens Knissel, Department of Technical Building Equipment. "At the University of Kassel, we are concerned with linking theoretical aspects of the course in a meaningful way with practical experience," says Schulze, describing the initial idea. "That's where the numerous buildings currently under construction on our campus came in handy." Architecture students have done preliminary work for four building projects in which the North Hessian university itself is acting as the building owner, and this work has flowed or will flow into the implementation: This concerns the boathouse of the Institute of Sports, which was inaugurated in 2016, the conversion of Villa Rühl - into which the Scientific Center for University Research INCHER will move in the future - and the so-called production hall, a listed industrial building whose renovation will start soon.
The showcase project, however, is the student house, into which the AStA and an event center, among others, will move in the coming year. Students of Prof. Schulze had organized a competition; the two winning designs formed the basis for the approximately 5 million euro conversion of an industrial building of the former textile company Gottschalk, which is also a listed building. Knissel and Schulze were joined in the award by co-organizers Stefan Reuther, Alexander Söder and Jonathan Scheder.
Mathematical modeling
Also in the working group/organizational unit category, the course "Mathematical Modeling Days" received the third prize of 15,000 euros. Under the direction of Prof. Dr. Rita Borromeo Ferri (Department of Didactics of Mathematics) and Prof. Dr. Andreas Meister (Analysis and Applied Mathematics), student teachers receive preparation for teaching in schools in these seminars, which interlocks subject didactics and subject science.
In concrete terms, the focus is on "mathematical modeling", i.e. working on problems from reality with the help of mathematical means and checking the results against reality again. A concrete question, for example, is: How many LTE transmission towers are needed in Germany so that all inhabitants can use cell phones without any problems?
"The response from schools shows us how well this form of real-life mathematics is received," Borromeo Ferri reports. "For the students, this format offers an excellent opportunity to combine theory and practice and to gain their first experience in the classroom with an attractive offering." After preparatory seminar sessions, students head to cooperating schools for three full days to mentor groups of 5-6 students each as they solve complex modeling problems.
Lecture series on climate change
The €10,000 prize for a student initiative went to an international group of seven master's students from the Department of Ecological Agricultural Sciences. In the past winter semester, they organized the lecture series "Climate Change, migration, and violent extremism: the United Nations' role to prevent and volve the conflicts in the agricultural context". It aimed to make students aware of current issues of global political importance, such as hunger, climate change, migration and resource scarcity, and to address them in the context of agricultural sciences. Experts from around the world were joined by video.
Link to press release "Uni builds house for students" (2017): http://www.uni-kassel.de/uni/universitaet/pressekommunikation/neues-vom-campus/meldung/article/uni-baut-haus-fuer-studierende-mehr-platz-fuer-asta-und-andere-gruppen.html
Contact:
Sebastian Mense
University of Kassel
Communication, Press and Public Relations
Tel.: +49 561 804-1961
Email: presse@uni-kassel.de
www.uni-kassel.de