SIS News Germany - SIS Swiss International School

SIS News
Germany
Summer 2014_Science and Maths at SIS
Table of content
Editorial   _3
News   _4
Time to Celebrate   _9
SIS under Construction   _10
On Learning   _11
SIS Friedrichshafen   _12
SIS Ingolstadt   _14
SIS Regensburg   _16
SIS Stuttgart-Fellbach   _18
Design concept: dezember und juli gmbh
Concept, editing: Christina Heinisch, Annette Krieger, Ann-Christin Werner
Photos: Palma Fiacco, teams at SIS schools
Printing: Bechtel Druck
Circulation: 1.600
June 2014
Die SIS Swiss International School ist eine private Ganztagesschule, die vom Kindergarten bis zur Hochschulreife
führt. Mit durchgängig zweisprachigem Unterricht und Schulalltag in Deutsch und Englisch und deutschen sowie
internationalen Bildungsabschlüssen richtet sich die SIS an einheimische ebenso wie an international mobile
Familien. Die Pädagogik der SIS ist weltanschaulich unabhängig, baut jedoch auf klar definierte Grundwerte.
Die SIS betreibt Schulen in der Schweiz, in Deutschland und in Brasilien. SIS Swiss International School ist ein
Gemeinschaftsunternehmen der Kalaidos Bildungsgruppe Schweiz und der Klett Gruppe.
Die Klett Gruppe ist mit ihren 61 Unternehmen an 36 Standorten in 14 Ländern ein führendes Bildungsunternehmen in Europa. Das Angebot der Gruppe reicht vom klassischen Schulbuch bis zu modernsten interaktiven
Lernhilfen, von Fachliteratur bis zur schönen Literatur. Darüber hinaus ist die Klett Gruppe der führende private
Anbieter von Bildungs- und Weiterbildungsdiensleistungen. Weitere Informationen unter www.klett-gruppe.de.
2
Kalaidos ist eine führende Bildungsgruppe mit umfassender Auswahl an bedürfnisgerechten Bildungsangeboten
auf allen Bildungsstufen. Die Kalaidos Bildungsgruppe ist eigentümergeführt und in der Schweiz und international
tätig. Menschen in allen Lebensphasen und mit unterschiedlichem Bildungshintergrund sowie Institutionen jeglicher Größe zählen zu den Kunden von Unternehmen der Kalaidos Bildungsgruppe. Weitere Informationen unter
www.kalaidos.ch.
Editorial
Liebe Leserinnen und Leser,
in seinem Roman »Die Vermessung der Welt« legt Daniel Kehlmann dem großen Astronomen und Mathematiker Carl Friedrich Gauß in einem fiktiven Dialog mit Wilhelm von Humboldt folgende Aussage in den Mund: »Sprachwissenschaft.« Er wolle ja keinem zu nahe
treten, aber das sei »etwas für Leute, welche die Pedanterie zur Mathematik hätten, nicht
jedoch die Intelligenz. Leute, die sich ihre eigene notdürftige Logik erfänden.« Betretenes
Schweigen folgt darauf beim Adressaten.
Als jemand, der ebenfalls Sprachwissenschaften studiert hat, fühlt man sich von diesem
Satz unweigerlich mit angesprochen. Sollte es einem selbst an Intelligenz gemangelt haben, um etwas Anspruchsvolles wie Mathematik zu studieren? Mag sein. Noch immer haftet dem Studium geisteswissenschaftlicher Fächer der Ruf einer gewissen Beliebigkeit an,
während Studenten der Physik oder Mathematik beklagen, dass Gespräche über ihr Studienfach oder das Thema ihrer Diplomarbeit oft allzu schnell verstummen – haben doch
Nichtfachleute das Gefühl, mit dem wenn überhaupt nur noch rudimentär vorhandenen
naturwissenschaftlichen Abiturwissen hier nicht mehr mitreden zu können. Die Experten
wiederum tun sich gelegentlich schwer damit, ihr Fachwissen anschaulich und begreifbar
zu machen. Schade eigentlich, für beide Seiten.
Ich will nicht glauben, dass es nur eine Frage von Intelligenz oder Begabung ist, ob man in
Mathematik oder Naturwissenschaften reüssieren kann. Vielleicht braucht es – ähnlich wie
bei Fremdsprachen – vor allem frühzeitigen, unbefangenen Kontakt mit diesen Fächern.
Und das heißt vor allem: Kontakt mit Menschen, die nicht nur etwas davon verstehen, sondern die andere für ihr Fach und die Phänomene, die es untersucht, begeistern können.
Wenn ich bei Schulevaluationen oder anderen Gelegenheiten unsere Schulen besuche, stelle
ich immer wieder beglückt fest, dass es sie gibt, die Lehrerinnen und Lehrer, die es schaffen,
Kinder und Jugendliche für Mathematik, Naturwissenschaften und Technik zu begeistern.
Da sitzen Vierjährige gebannt an einem Tisch und experimentieren mit Büroklammern und
Papier in Wasserschüsseln. Warum schwimmt die Büroklammer plötzlich nicht mehr, wenn
man Spülmittel ins Wasser gibt? Dass das Phänomen Oberflächenspannung heißt, ist in diesem Moment unwichtig – aber die Faszination ist da, auch nachdem die Stunde längst um
ist, und sie überträgt sich auf den Besucher. Auch in Grundschul- und Gymnasialklassen an
unseren Schulen erlebe ich immer wieder solche Momente und staune, mit welcher Selbstverständlichkeit und mit welchem Selbstbewusstsein Zehn- oder Zwölfjährige zum Beispiel
bei der Science Fair ihre Experimente und Erkenntnisse vor Erwachsenen präsentieren.
Bewusst geben wir unseren Schulen zusätzlich zu dem durch die Zweisprachigkeit gegebenen sprachlichen Akzent auch einen naturwissenschaftlichen Schwerpunkt, um unseren
Schülerinnen und Schülern eine breit gefächerte Ausbildung zu bieten – in der Hoffnung,
dass sie einst als Erwachsene weder angesichts fremder Sprachen noch in Gesprächen
über Naturwissenschaften ehrfürchtig oder hilflos verstummen.
Mit den Beispielen in diesem Heft, wie Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik im Schulalltag
der SIS gelernt und erlebt werden, wünschen wir Ihnen viel Spaß.
Herzliche Grüße
Annette Krieger, Unternehmensleiterin
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News
SIS Germany
SIS Germany is growing steadily; around 680 students are now attending our schools in
Friedrichshafen, Ingolstadt, Regensburg and Stuttgart-Fellbach. Therefore, new school
buildings have become necessary: SIS Ingolstadt moved into its new school building at the
beginning of January 2014. A new schoolhouse is also being built for SIS Kassel which will
open its doors in September 2014, offering grades 1, 2 and 3 in primary school as well as
a reception class for children aged 5 years. In addition, we are in the process of planning
the reconstruction of a former military building in Friedrichshafen, which will become the
new school building of SIS Friedrichshafen in 2015/16.
Current Developments at SIS Germany
Our oldest students are currently in grades 9 (Regensburg and Ingolstadt) and 10 (StuttgartFellbach). Consequently we are now in the process of preparing the so-called Kursstufe respectively Qualifikationsphase (preparation for the Abitur and for the IB Diploma in grades
11 and 12) including the authorization by the International Baccalaureate Organization.
With regards to our preschools and primary schools, we want to strengthen the children’s
writing competences in both our school languages German and English. We are presently
in the process of developing a Writing Curriculum which will be implemented in the school
year 2014/15.
SIS Friedrichshafen
SIS Friedrichshafen currently has a total of 118 students in preschool, primary and secondary school.
Celebrating Global Citizenship
If one looks at our SIS community it is clear that we are an international community, with
teachers, students and families coming from all over the world. During our international
week which took place in April we focused on guiding students to become more aware
about cultural, social, body and language differences between people from different parts
of the world, and to learn about differences as well as similarities that exist between themselves and other students. The preschool children talked about Japan and its culture, food
and language with the help of one of our preschool children and her family who come
from Japan. The primary school students looked at schools in other countries, especially
at a day in the life of a student in Uganda. The secondary school students focused on the
question of how children in different countries get to school. Some children have to walk
the amazing distance of 15 kilometres in areas which are partially unsafe to reach their
school.
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Book Week
We love books and we want to ignite the spark for reading every day and even more so
during our book week. According to our three different educational levels, we had special
projects for the different grades. The preschool children focused on the literature of famous
writers of children’s books, such as Julia Donaldson and Eric Carle, with many different
activities including reading, re-enacting, singing, and creating a class book. The primary
school students listened to a literary reading whereas the secondary school students took
part in a reading competition, read French books such as Le petit prince and discussed
adventure stories. More highlights during our book week were the staged readings of different student groups, the reading night and the book market!
SIS Ingolstadt
Currently we have almost 140 students in our preschool, primary and secondary school.
Opening Party in our New School Building
At the beginning of January 2014, we finally moved into our new school building. Lessons
started smoothly although the SIS team had to deal with some challenging tasks to ensure
that everything would run well. For example, the kitchen range hood for the oven that is
used for preparing our lunches was not working properly which led to hot fumes from the
oven setting off the fire alarm and then an unexpected visit from the fire department.
On Saturday, 22 March 2014, we celebrated our new school building with an official opening party followed by an open house event. The new assembly hall was nearly bursting at
the seams with so many visitors. And the guests were thrilled: They saw a lively celebration
in which the students as well as the invited guests and the SIS management expressed
their pleasure regarding the new school building of SIS Ingolstadt. In between students’
performances, which included singing, dancing and playing classical music pieces on
the piano and cello, Gabriel Engert, Cultural Mayor for the city of Ingolstadt and chairman
of the sponsoring association SISI e.V., Christian Zindel, CEO Kalaidos Bildungsgruppe
Switzerland, Annette Krieger, CEO SIS Swiss International Schools Germany, and Martin
Seffner, principal of SIS Ingolstadt, gave their speeches.
Change of Leadership
For important family reasons, Martin Seffner vacated his position at SIS Ingolstadt at the
end of April to return to Leipzig. The SIS management regrets his departure and would like
to thank him for his hard work over the past months. We will fill the principal position at
SIS Ingolstadt from the beginning of the 2014/15 school year. From May to August 2014,
Sebastian Koch takes charge of SIS Ingolstadt as principal ad interim. He is principal at
SIS Swiss International School Kassel which will open its doors in September 2014.
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News
SIS Kassel
SIS Kassel will start in September 2014 with a reception class and grades 1, 2 and 3 in
primary school. Sebastian Koch, principal of SIS Kassel, started the enrolment process
for SIS Kassel in February 2014 and has already had many conversations with interested
parents in a provisional school office. In addition, the recruitment process has started as
well: Karin Grabe has been supporting Sebastian Koch in the school office since March
2014, and the teaching staff is currently being recruited.
School Building
The construction of the SIS Kassel school building is proceeding quickly. The shell of the
building is finished and work on the interior has started. We are currently discussing the
design of the façade and the building service installations and are starting to select the
furnishing (see also page 10).
SIS Regensburg
SIS Regensburg now has a total enrolment of 120 students in the bilingual preschool,
primary and secondary school and the English-speaking primary and secondary school.
100 Days of School: SIS & RIS
On 4 April 2014, students, parents and teachers celebrated the first 100 days of school
together as a newly joined school community after the merger of the two schools SIS
Swiss International School Regensburg and Regensburg International School in August
2013. The focus of the celebration was the new school community. Therefore students of
different grades presented what they had learned during the past weeks with songs and
poems like “The more we get together” and explained what the different attributes of the
IB Learner Profile, e.g. being a “risk taker” or a “communicator”, mean to them. Afterwards
parents and students had the opportunity to participate together with the teachers in different activities like “Guess my Number”, “Magic Math” or “Language and Movement”. The
parent council organized refreshments and contributed together with parents, students
and teachers to a very nice and successful celebration with even the sun shining for the
occasion!
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New Happy Box
A little note can make a big difference! As part of our dedication to nurturing our school
community, we have been focusing on how much we value and appreciate each other. For
the past two years, we have had a Happy Box in our school where children and teachers
were able to post short letters of appreciation to each other. The themes covered varied
from an acknowledgment of achievement, thanking someone for their help and support
with school work or a conflict and being a good friend and comforting someone when
they were hurt or feeling sad. Caring for and appreciating each other is one of the most
important values in creating a happy and positive school community where everyone feels
accepted and included as part of a team. For this reason, we have decided to highlight
this, re-vamp the Happy Box, and focus on the value and effort put into writing the little
happy notes to each other.
SIS Stuttgart-Fellbach
300 students are currently enrolled at SIS Stuttgart-Fellbach in preschool, primary and
secondary school.
Full State Recognition!
In February 2014, we received the accreditation visit of the educational authorities of
Baden-Württemberg. Grades 8 to 12 of our secondary school were granted full state recognition. What an achievement! Grades 5 to 7 as well as our primary school had already
been recognised in August 2011. By granting full state recognition, the school authorities
have confirmed that the work of SIS Stuttgart-Fellbach is considered to be equivalent to
the state educational system (please see also page 9, Success Stories).
Video Recording for a Children’s TV Show on WDR
In March, students of the subject “German as second language” followed an invitation
of the Goethe Institute to the fair Didacta to take part in a video recording of a TV show
called “David and Red/Peter and Blue”. The show is broadcasted on the German TV station Westdeutscher Rundfunk and is designed for children who want to learn English.
The SIS students were divided into two groups and took part one after the other in video
recordings with the new characters “Peter and Blue”. The difficulty was to enable the communication between “David and Red” from England and “Peter and Blue” from Germany
as communication seemed impossible at first because of the language barrier. Fortunately,
the SIS students were there and helped with accurate translations which they enjoyed
visibly! When all misunderstandings had been resolved and the groundwork for a transnational friendship had been laid, each child crafted his own Sockenfreund (a puppet made
of socks) to take it home.
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News
SIS Switzerland
Recognition of SIS Basel as Kantonale Maturitätsschule
In May 2014, the SIS Swiss International School Basel was accredited as a new cantonal
Matura school in Basel Stadt – the first new one in over fifty years! This decision marks
the culmination of a complex five-year application process involving the SIS Basel, the
Department of Education, the Matura Commission, and the City Council. Now we will be
guided through the first four years, with regular visits, consultation and support. The process involved intensive scrutiny of our faculty and their credentials, our curriculum and our
facilities and this quality control will continue as we guide our first cohort of students to our
first Matura exams to take place in 2017/18.
SIS Brasília
What Does It Mean to Be a PYP Candidate School?
To become a fully authorized IB school offering the Primary Years Program (PYP), the
school must pass through a candidate stage. To become a PYP candidate, the school
must first submit an action plan stating how the school plans to implement and meet the
rigorous standards and practices that the IB organization puts into place.
In the reviewed IB standards and practices document of 2014, there are 73 standards
organized into three different areas. These areas are Philosophy, Organization and Curriculum. Here in Brasília, we have recently had a visit from our IB designated consultant,
Christianne Cowie. Based on the visit report submitted afterwards by Christianne, we formulated our revised action plan to implement the PYP.
With the support of our partner school in Rio de Janiero, Escola Suíço-Brasileira – RJ, a fully authorized PYP School, we have made good progress in implementing the 73 standards
and fully realized our now revised action plan. With the assistance of Anderson Vidal, the
PYP coordinator who conducts observations, teacher meetings, parent meetings and professional support, we are making the PYP happen here in Brasília. Parents, teachers and
most importantly children love the PYP Programme. When speaking about an experiment
in English on the subject of “Sharing the planet”, this is what some of the children said:
“I like to ask and answer questions.” (Claudia Sofia)
“I like to write and draw about what we are doing.” (Julieta Gomes)
“I put the fire and boiled the water to see if we can take salt out of the ocean.” (Luise Britto)
So what does it mean to be a PYP candidate school? I am sure now that after reading the
article you can begin to answer the question in a way that a real SIS inquirer would!
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Time to Celebrate
Full State Recognition for SIS Stuttgart-Fellbach!
In April 2014, SIS Stuttgart-Fellbach was granted full state recognition for grades 8 to 12 of
the Secondary School. A great achievement!
Prior to that, the SIS Secondary School had been officially approved as an Ersatzschule (an
Ersatzschule provides courses and qualifications comparable with those offered at state
schools; teaching is in accordance with the relevant state curricula). In addition, grades 5
to 7 as well as our Primary School had already been granted full state recognition in 2011.
By receiving state recognition of all grades of the Secondary School, SIS Stuttgart-Fellbach gains the right to hold in-house examinations and issue report cards in accordance
with the regulations applicable to state schools in all year levels. Most importantly, students will be able to graduate from the school directly with the official Baden-Württemberg
Abitur. Students of SIS Stuttgart-Fellbach who have successfully completed grade 10 will
automatically receive the Mittlere Reife (intermediate school leaving certificate). Also a
transfer into the state school system has been made much easier with the full state recognition, as report cards and examinations are equivalent to state school report cards and
examinations.
The decision of the Regierungspräsidium (Regional Council on educational matters) to
subsequently grant state recognition to grades 8 to 12 is based on a comprehensive and
detailed examination of the work being done at SIS Stuttgart-Fellbach. In addition to providing evidence that all formal requirements are sufficiently met, SIS Stuttgart-Fellbach
was expected to demonstrate that the school has implemented the Bildungspläne (state
curricula) of the State of Baden-Württemberg. Through various classroom visits on all
grade levels of the Secondary School along with detailed reviews of the school curriculum
and lesson plans as well as extensive documentation, the Regierungspräsidium obtained
a comprehensive picture and was able to verify and approve of the quality of the work of
SIS Stuttgart-Fellbach. By granting full state recognition, the school authorities have confirmed that the work of SIS Stuttgart-Fellbach is considered to be equivalent to the state
educational system.
Congratulationí
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SIS under Construction
Ein Schulhaus für die SIS Kassel!
Johannes Linsenmeier, Projekt- und Qualitätsmanagement
Die SIS Kassel startet mit einer Grundschule und einer Eingangsstufe zum Schuljahr
2014/15. Dafür entsteht seit vergangenem Herbst in der Johanna-Waescher-Straße im
Stadtteil Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe ein neues Schulgebäude. Das Gebäude wird von einem
Investor gebaut und an die SIS Kassel vermietet.
Das Architekturbüro Zoomarchitekten aus Berlin, das auch das Schulhaus für die SIS Ingolstadt entworfen hat, hat sich bei der Planung eng mit der SIS abgestimmt: Auf insgesamt drei Stockwerken wird es fünf großzügige Klassenräume für den Unterricht geben
sowie einen zusätzlichen Klassenraum, der flexibel für Projektarbeiten, Bewegungsspiele
oder die Einrichtung einer Parallelklasse genutzt werden kann. Weiterhin sind zwei Gruppenräume für die Arbeit in Kleingruppen, ein Lehrerzimmer sowie ein Verwaltungstrakt mit
Schulleitungs- und Stufenleitungsbüro, Sekretariat und Besprechungsraum vorgesehen.
Das Mittagessen werden die Kinder zusammen mit den Lehrkräften in einem weiteren,
separaten Raum einnehmen. Das Grundstück der SIS Kassel bietet zudem ausreichend
Freiflächen zum Spielen, die ansprechend gestaltet werden.
Der Rohbau entsteht
Dank des milden Winters ging die Erstellung des Rohbaus nach Beginn der Bauarbeiten im
Oktober 2013 zügig voran. Nachdem die Baugrube ausgebaggert war, wuchs das Schulgebäude Woche um Woche Stockwerk für Stockwerk in die Höhe. Im Februar 2014 war
der Rohbau, also die »Außenhülle«, fertiggestellt und die Fenster wurden eingesetzt. Für
die Außenansicht, die Fassade, haben sich die Architekten zusammen mit der SIS eine
lebendige und abwechslungsreiche Gestaltung ausgedacht – genauso wie das Schulleben
im Gebäude sein soll!
Praktische Fragen beim Innenausbau
Doch nicht nur auf der Baustelle ging es voran: Im Hintergrund planten die Architekten und
Ingenieure den Innenausbau und stimmten sich auch hier eng mit der SIS ab. Da musste
entschieden werden, wo die Anschlüsse für die interaktiven Smartboards installiert werden, wie viele Steckdosen man in einem Klassenzimmer benötigt und auf welcher Höhe
die Toiletten und die Waschtische für die Schülerinnen und Schüler hängen sollen, damit
sowohl die Kleinsten mit fünf Jahren als auch die Größten mit zehn Jahren die Sanitäranlagen gut nutzen können.
Bei der Umsetzung dieser Planung geht es nun darum, Trennwände aufzustellen und eine
Menge Elektrokabel, Wasserleitungen, Abwasserrohre und Lüftungsschächte zu verlegen.
Diese verlaufen meist unter der Betondecke und werden später unter einer etwas niedriger
gehängten Decke verborgen.
Wenn die Böden verlegt und die Wände gestrichen sind, können auch die Möbel kommen – und dann dauert es nicht mehr lange, bis die ersten Schülerinnen und Schüler auf
den Stühlen in der SIS Kassel Platz nehmen werden!
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On Learning
Wie begeistert man Schüler für
Naturwissenschaften?
Susanne Dietrich, Lehrerin Gymnasium SIS Friedrichshafen
Schüler für Naturwissenschaften oder Mathematik zu motivieren oder sogar zu begeistern,
ist nicht immer leicht für die jeweiligen Lehrkräfte. Wo mathematische Elemente im Kindergarten und am Anfang der Grundschulzeit noch für Erstaunen und Begeisterung sorgen,
hinterfragen die älteren Schülerinnen und Schüler immer öfter die Relevanz der zu lernenden Kompetenzen und begegnen dem Fach leider oft mit Widerwillen und Lustlosigkeit.
Wir wollen daher – neben den Inhalten aus dem jeweiligen Curriculum – die Schüler durch
Projektarbeit oder Projekttage für naturwissenschaftliche Fächer motivieren und ihnen
den Spaß wieder näher bringen, den diese Fächer mit sich bringen können.
Kann es Meerjungfrauen geben?
Projektarbeit im naturwissenschaftlichen Unterricht
»Der naturwissenschaftliche Unterricht soll Schülerinnen und Schüler befähigen, ihr Wissen selbst aufzubauen. Projektarbeit, Schülerexperimente und das Erforschen selbst
gefundener Fragestellungen sind zentrale Bestandteile des Unterrichts«, so steht es im
Bildungsplan Baden-Württemberg.
In der Klasse 8 der SIS Friedrichshafen wurde gerade das Thema Biomechanik und Evolution behandelt. Da dies ein sehr weitgefasstes Thema ist und die Schüler sehr unterschiedliche Interessen hatten, wurde diese Einheit als Projekt angelegt. Die grundlegende
Theorie zu Bewegung, Muskelaufbau, Knochen und Gelenken wurde in einigen Doppelstunden, auch mit praktischen Experimenten wie das Sezieren eines Hühnergelenks, gemeinsam erarbeitet. Anschließend folgte die eigentliche Projektarbeit der Schüler über
einen Zeitraum von ca. vier Wochen. Ziel des Projektes war es, dass jeder Schüler sich
selbst eine passende Aufgabenstellung überlegt, hierzu Informationen im Internet, aus
Büchern oder Zeitschriften beschafft und daraus eine Präsentation, ein Poster, ein Modell,
ein Infoheft oder auch einen Film gestaltet. Die Ergebnisse wurden in zwei Abschluss­
stunden vorgestellt.
Dieses Thema als Projektarbeit anzulegen, war sehr erfolgreich und löste eine große Motivation und Interesse an den eigenen Fragestellungen und an denen der Mitschüler aus. Es
war erstaunlich, welche Fragen bearbeitet und wie diese gelöst wurden: Wie viele Muskeln
braucht man eigentlich zum Küssen, Schwimmen oder Nasehochziehen? Wieso rennen
Afrikaner schneller als Europäer? Was passiert bei der Leichenstarre? Wie entstand der
Hund aus dem Wolf? Kann es Meerjungfrauen geben?
Und die Auflösung? So viel sei verraten: Wir haben 656 Muskeln, die meisten Muskeln
bewegen wir beim Schwimmen. Zum Nasehochziehen benötigen wir fünf Muskeln, zum
Küssen brauchen wir 38 Gesichtsmuskeln. Afrikaner können tatsächlich schneller rennen,
weil der Muskelaufbau unterschiedlich ist. Ob es Meerjungfrauen gegeben hat, wird von
den meisten Wissenschaftlern bezweifelt, aber die so genannte »Wasseraffen-Theorie« ist
der Ansicht, dass die Vorfahren des modernen Menschen im Verlauf der Menschwerdung
eine teilweise wasserlebende bzw. amphibische Phase durchgemacht haben und dann
auch als Meerjungfrau gelebt haben könnten.
Die Schüler haben durch diese Projektarbeit die notwendigen theoretischen Kenntnisse
erworben, durch das Entwickeln eigener Fragestellungen und Nachforschen Fragen aus
ihren Interessensgebieten gelöst und diese in Form von Postern, Comics oder Infoheften
ansprechend präsentiert – und das mit viel Spaß, Ausdauer und Motivation!
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SIS Friedrichshafen
Math Days: Students Enjoying Math!
Stefanie Hausmann, Principal, Peter Ernst, Preschool Teacher
“Do not train children to learning by force and harshness, but direct them to it by what
amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar
bent of the genius of each.” (Plato)
Parent and student talks dealing with the subject math are not always positive. Based on
experience, the older the students, or the higher the grade level, the more negative these
talks become. From a psychological point of view, autonomy, social acceptance, and the
experience of competences are the deciding factors for motivation. With our project days
we always try to implement these components. In the case of our math days, the goal was
to motivate our students for the subject math. Our experience from former project days
shows that these days positively effect the motivation inside the classroom in the long run.
During the math days, all preschool children and the students of primary and secondary
school are practicing maths during three days – at stations, by quizzes or in participating
in a Math Olympics. This year, the topic was geometry and terms. In the mornings, the students worked by themselves on the theory, the teachers were there to help and answer the
students’ questions. During the afternoons the students were divided in groups of different
grades and took part in games as Mathegami or the Math Olympics. The atmosphere was
full of concentration and motivation, and we were impressed with the creative ideas the
students came up with. According to the reactions from our students, it appears that we
were able to achieve our goals. A big math success!
Math Stations for Preschool Children and First Graders
During the math days, the older preschool children teamed up with the first grade students
for a variety of activities – our first meeting required precision cutting and lots of glue
sticks to turn 2-D pieces of paper into 3-D geometric shapes. Our second meeting saw
teams of a kindergartener and a 1st grader, roaming the primary school corridor as they
rotated among 13 different math stations. The stations had activities dealing with symmetry, geometry, sums and subtraction. There were many determined faces, some treating
the event as a competition, others as a diversion. But all eyes lit up upon seeing the game
“toss the sand filled balloon in the hula hoop” where the children had to throw the sand
filled balloon in different circles. Even a couple of teachers tried their hand at throwing the
balloon into a hoop to collect a variety of points!
The preschool and 1st grade math collaboration was a great success. As Leopold from
first grade said: “I learned that you can add and subtract money” and Tim was impressed
with the balloon toss: “That was really fun!” Isabelle in kindergarten thought that working
with the first grade was “great”.
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Mathegami in Primary and Secondary School
During the first afternoon of our Math project, the students were invited to a Mathegami
session! According to the different grades, there were different levels: The primary school
students learned to fold cubes out of paper, the secondary school students had the task
to build their own models out of three-dimensional platonic bodies. A lot of creative and
really nice models have been designed by the students. “It was fun because I like to do
handicrafts. With Mathegami we had the possibility to combine maths with arts”, explains
Lea from grade 7.
Math Olympics
For our Math Olympics we divided our students again in different groups consisting of the
grades 2 to 8. The teachers made up 15 creative stations where the students were able to
train their mathematical competences with for example the Japanese quiz Sudoku, nets of
cubes, games with matches or a throwing competition. There were different exercises for
primary and secondary school – some easy and some very tricky but the students helped
each other in their groups and solved most of the questions. Fiona, grade 5 student, concludes: “All the stations were fun and creative. I liked it very much!”
Who Wants to Become a Math Millionaire?
As every year, the highlight of our math days was the math school quiz “Who wants to
become a math millionaire?” We prepared different questions for primary school and secondary school students. Moreover, the secondary school students were divided in groups
of girls and boys. The girls group won the competition and the grade 6 students Guilia and
Zoe are proud of it: “The boys always said that they are the best. But now we showed them
who really rules!”
Daniel, grade 3 student, describes the quiz as follows: “I love ‘Who wants to become a
math millionaire’. It is always the highlight of the math days. I am really looking forward to
it as it takes place just once a year. I like best that every student is able to show his math
knowledge. The quiz is simple: Our teacher Mrs Eitz asks questions at the smart board and
we have to answer them. Each class has different questions. The students who are good
in answering the questions get a reward.”
Maths Can Also Be Tasty!
As the subject of the math days were geometrical forms and symmetry, we took a closer
look at waffles with the students of grade 6. The students had to show the centre lines
of a waffle with five pieces with their set squares – do you know how many centre lines
a waffle with five pieces has? After the hard work, we baked waffles and ate them – they
tasted delicious!
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SIS Ingolstadt
Science Project on Photosynthesis:
Students Acting as Detectives
Maria Kindl, Secondary Teacher, and Serena Bianchi, grade 8
In December 2013, the secondary school students of SIS Ingolstadt were invited by the
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich to participate in a research project which was
lead by Esther Tan, a guest scientist from Singapore. The project focused on photosynthesis, and the students acted as “detectives” to find out how photosynthesis works. As
part of the project, the students created two questionnaires and learned about the various
steps of the photosynthesis. They were given a microphone to record their answers. They
made many assumptions on the effects that any changes might have on this process:
What happens to those plants that only get a little bit of light? Do they die if we are on
holidays for some days and the shutters are down? How does photosynthesis work with
jungle plants?
To get more information, the students made an excursion to the Botanical Garden in Munich where Dr. Kathrin Kurbasik from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität answered the
students’ questions competently. She showed the students special plants and explained
the run of the photosynthesis process.
Serena, grade 8 student at SIS Ingolstadt, describes how she experienced the excursion
to the Botanical Garden in Munich in the following.
Our Excursion to the Botanical Garden
On Friday, 13 December 2013, secondary school students (grades 6 to 9) went to the
Botanical Garden in Munich as part of a science project. We got our work packets and
recorders for the day and drove to Munich by bus. Once we were at the Gardens, we got
off the bus and walked to one of the main greenhouses. Outside of the greenhouse, we
had a small assignment which was to be recorded. This assignment was on a small piece
of paper with one question. It was something like “What information would you need to
conduct your experiment?” This was referring to what was in our packets, which contained
knowledge charts about different situations of plants, for example: “Could a plant survive
without sunlight?”
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Rainforest and Desert Plants
During the course of our day, we had to take notes on what our guide, Dr. Kurbasik (also
from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität), told us about different plants. After our small assignment, our teacher from the University, Esther Tan, explained what we would be doing
for the next two hours. A short snack break and we started our first tour through the rainforest plants. It was beautiful walking through plants that I had only really seen in movies
before. It was so humid and smelled so earthy. Some plants had huge leaves that looked
like umbrellas and others had colorful, odd shaped flowers growing from them. As we
walked through this little jungle, Dr. Kurbasik told us different facts about each plant we
passed and while she was talking, we had to fill out our knowledge charts. I learned that
bamboo, for example, can grow very quickly.
Next, were the desert plants, mostly cactuses. Again, as our guide showed us plants,
we took more notes. This greenhouse room was hardly green at all. It was dry and had a
strange smell to it, much different than the rainforest room. There were cactuses everywhere. Some were tall and thin with many needles and others were small and fat with only
a few needles. Once we were done with the tours, we went back to the room we had left
our backpacks in, and finished copying facts into our packets.
By the time we finished up our work, grabbed our bags, thanked our guide and teachers,
and got back to the bus it was 3 p.m. We were right on schedule to arrive home at 4 p.m.
I’m glad I had the chance to visit the Botanical Garden in Munich and I hope to go back this
summer with my family when all the flowers are in bloom. I’ve heard it is very beautiful then.
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SIS Regensburg
Fun with Science at Preschool:
Our Bottle Tornado
Verena Simpson, Principal, and Janett Maslowski, Head of Preschool
One of the six areas of learning, which are part of the SIS Regensburg Preschool concept, is “Knowledge and understanding of the world”. One way to inquire about and gain
knowledge and understanding of the world for our preschool children is through science
experiments. In a first step, it is essential that the preschool teachers allow the children to
examine the provided material and ask questions without the teacher providing expected
outcomes to the children. The children are asked to explore different scenarios and outcomes that may occur when, for example, mixing different materials together. In a next
step, the children conduct the experiment and check to see if their “hypothesis” is true or
if something unexpected happens. After the experiment, the children take some time to
reflect together with their teachers on what has happened and why that is.
Tornado in a Bottle
Most recently, the children at the SIS Regensburg Preschool asked themselves the question “How did we create a bottle tornado?” Not much was needed for the experiment – only
two empty plastic bottles, food coloring, water, and a connecting piece. First, the children
looked at the provided material and wondered what they would do with it. Once the teachers gave them instructions, the children were asked to predict what they think may happen
when the two bottles are connected and the top bottle is filled with water while the bottom
bottle is empty. Will the water flow completely from the top bottle into the bottom bottle?
Will only parts of the water flow into the bottom bottle? Will the water not flow at all?
The Experiment Starts
The children obviously enjoyed mixing water and color. Once the two bottles were connected, the experiment could start: The children turned the bottle to make sure the empty
bottle was at the bottom. They then explored and inquired why the water does not flow out
of the full bottle into the empty bottle. They also wondered if and how it was possible to
get the water out of the full bottle. They squeezed, shook, and tilted the bottle and finally
were successful – they created a “tornado-swirl”!
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Reflection on the Experiment
The children reflected together with their teachers that the water did not flow into the
seemingly empty bottle because there was air in the bottle. By squeezing and shaking the
bottle, air bubbles rose into the top bottle, which allowed the water to flow to the bottom
bottle. The tornado was created by lots of air rising to the top and lots of water flowing to
the bottom.
Support by the Programme Haus der kleinen Forscher
The science explorations at the SIS Regensburg Preschool are part of the programme
Haus der kleinen Forscher (house of the little scientists), a non-profit organisation in Berlin.
The aim of the organisation is to stimulate and supprt the education of children in preschools and primary schools in the field of science, mathematics, and technique. The
programme includes a series of workshops for preschool teachers on altogether nine different topics, such as explorations with water, air, magnets, and electricity. After having attended a workshop, the preschool teachers have time to implement the newly learned and
experiment with the children at their preschool before the next workshop starts. The whole
series of workshops takes about four years and the preschool can obtain a certificate once
they meet the criteria set by Haus der kleinen Forscher. At SIS Regensburg, our head of
preschool has participated in one workshop on water and one workshop on air exploration and has started to implement the newly learned at our preschool. The experiments
trigger the children’s thoughts and make them question the world around us. And most
importantly – the children truly have fun mixing, shaking, questioning, and experimenting!
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SIS Stuttgart-Fellbach
Schüler werden zu Brückenbauern
Verena Zwafink, Lehrerin Gymnasium
Von Brücken geht eine ganz besondere Faszination aus – das liegt zum einen an der verbindenden Funktion, die Brücken haben und wegen der sie ja gebaut werden. Man denke
an Brücken über reißende Ströme oder tiefe Schluchten, ohne die ein Ziel auf der anderen
Seite entweder gar nicht oder nur mit wesentlich größerem Aufwand zu erreichen wäre.
Manche Brücken verbinden aber nicht nur Örtlichkeiten miteinander, sondern sogar Völker
oder Kulturen, wie beispielsweise die beiden Bosporus-Brücken in Istanbul, die Europa
mit Asien verbinden.
Der Unterricht in dem Fach Naturphänomene in den beiden fünften Klassen der SIS Stuttgart-Fellbach stand in den letzten Wochen unter dem Thema »Brücken«.
Die Schülerinnen und Schüler sahen sich zunächst Fotos von Brücken aus dem Stuttgarter Raum an. Sie überlegten, wie beispielsweise das bekannte Parkhaus in der Nähe des
Stuttgarter Flughafens, das zugleich eine Brücke über die Autobahn bildet, das Gewicht
vieler Autos halten kann. Sie staunten über weltbekannte, rekordverdächtige Brücken wie
die Golden Gate Bridge und fanden überzeugende Argumente, wie eine Brücke über eine
große Distanz und trotz hohen Eigengewichts stabil sein kann. Das wollen wir selbst ausprobieren!
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Selbstversuch 1: Brücke aus einer Karteikarte
In einem ersten Versuch bauten die Schülerinnen und Schüler nach Anleitung Brücken unterschiedlichen Designs mit einer einzigen Karteikarte. Je nach Struktur der Brücke konnte
diese nur wenige Münzen oder ein ganzes Mäppchen tragen. Bei unseren eigenen Konstruktionen hielt die stärkste Karteikartenbrücke sogar das Gewicht einer vollen Trinkflasche
aus. So fanden die Schülerinnen und Schüler heraus, dass es besondere Formen gibt, so
genannte offene und geschlossene Profile, die Bauwerken Tragfähigkeit verleihen.
Wie genau Kräfte auf Brücken wirken und wohin Kräfte geleitet werden, wurde im Anschluss besprochen. Nach einem weiteren Selbstversuch mit einer Hängebrücke – zwei
Schüler als Pfosten und ein Schüler als Gewicht in der Mitte – definierten die Schüler,
wie Druck- und Zugkräfte wirken und bei welchen Brückenformen (Balken-, Bogen- und
Hängebrücken) diese zum Einsatz kommen. Zudem lernten sie Vor- und Nachteile unterschiedlicher Brückenformen kennen.
Selbstversuch 2: Brücke zwischen zwei Tischen
Auf Basis dieses Wissens planten und bauten die Schülerinnen und Schüler nun ihre eigenen Brücken. Die Aufgabe lautete: Baue mit Hilfe von 15 Holzstäbchen (Länge 18 cm,
Breite 0,5 cm, Dicke 0,2 cm) eine Brücke für eine 30 cm lange »Schlucht« zwischen zwei
Tischen. Als Hilfsmittel bekamen die Schülerinnen und Schüler Flüssigkleber und Heißkleber. Ein paar Stunden und einige hitzige Diskussionen später hatte jede Gruppe ihre eigene Brücke gebaut. Die Ergebnisse waren beeindruckend: Beim Tragfähigkeitstest hielten
die meisten Brücken mehr als zwei Kilogramm aus, die stabilsten Brücken trugen mehr als
6,8 Kilogramm. Wahre Ingenieursleistungen!
Das Fazit: Bei der zu überbrückenden Strecke und dem vorhandenen Baumaterial brachten Balkenbrücken mit Seitenverstärkungen die besten Ergebnisse.
So wurden unsere Fünftklässler zur Brückenbauern und lernten durch eigenes Erfahren
und Ausprobieren mit viel Spaß und hoher Motivation verschiedene Brückenformen mit
ihren Vor- und Nachteilen kennen!
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SIS Stuttgart-Fellbach
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