Berlin, 14 June 2019 - The programme includes scanning electron microscopy, asteroid impacts and, more practical, sawing and polishing. 14 students visit the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin to prepare for the International Earth Science Olympiad (IESO). After the national qualification competitions, this year's worldwide student competition will take place from 26 August to 3 September in Daegu, South Korea.
“We have prepared a two half-days training programme covering the rock cycle, meteorite impacts and modern geoscientific methods,” says Lutz Hecht from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. Theoretical lectures in the meteorite collection, practical work in the preparation labs, and sample examinations with an electron microscope - the students get to know techniques and can expand their knowledge in discussions with researchers. “We also want to support the good performance of our team, of course,” says Hecht.
The students are accompanied by Sylke Hlawatsch, who coordinated the German qualification process for the geodidactics section of the German Geological Society DGGV. “At the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, we can give our team a first-hand impression of how geoscientists work today,” says Hlawatsch.
The IESO is a competition for secondary school students under the age of 18 carried out annually since 2007. It includes theoretical examinations in the fields of geology, geophysics, meteorology, oceanography, terrestrial astronomy and environmental sciences as well as practical geoscientific investigations.
IESO is one of the major activities of the International Geoscience Education Organization to promote Geoscience education and to develop the public awareness of Geoscience.
Further information:
IESO 2019
Information on the German selection procedure of the DGGV (German)