Chair of Materials and Surface Engineering
Materials and Surface Engineering

Linking university teaching and school education


New teaching/learning format gave primary school classes and student teachers space for practical experience at the Chemnitz Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.

As part of one of their courses, students of the primary school teacher training programme in the field of economics, technology, household economics and social studies passed on their knowledge about metals to the pupils of a primary school class for the first time. The prospective teachers planned and designed a practical course for the pupils themselves. They divided the participating 31 children into five groups and led them one after the other to five experimental stations, each of which was supervised by two student teachers and supported only by IWW staff. The pupils learned, for example, that metals can be as liquid as water if you make them hot enough, and they used this knowledge to cast small pewter figures. They explored the structure of metals under the light microscope and learned that metals often rust and therefore need to be protected from corrosion. Many of the pupils were impressed by the tensile test, in which they were able to tear apart aluminium and steel with combined force. Finally, they learned about the relationship between hardness and wear resistance. „Our classes were really excited. The dual nature of the attempted teaching-learning concept thus worked out. On the one hand, pupils of primary school age got to know materials science work at a research institution, and on the other hand, the primary school teaching students gained their first teaching experience at an early stage and were able to pass on the knowledge they had acquired in the course. The new teaching-learning concept will also be included in the institute's teaching portfolio in the future.

Central press release:
https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/tu/pressestelle/aktuell/9277  

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There was a big crowd at the light microscopes, where the pupils could look inside metals for the first time

7.2.2019 – Teaching at the professorship ( )

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