STEM at the Girls' Day at UBT
As part of the nationwide “Girls’ Day” initiative aimed at helping girls explore future career paths, the University of Bayreuth once again welcomed numerous schoolgirls to its campus in early April 2025.
A total of 70 pupils from Years 5 to 12, representing 17 different schools from the city and district of Bayreuth, as well as from Kulmbach and Hersbruck, came to take part in one of seven exciting hands-on workshops. There, they became young scientists for a day, exploring current and fascinating topics in the university’s STEM subjects. During the workshops, the girls experimented, filtered, pipetted, measured, programmed, used microscopes – and much more. At the shared lunch in the university canteen and the final event in a large lecture hall, they had the chance to soak up more campus atmosphere and exchange ideas about their experiences.
We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all the workshop teams for their wonderful commitment, and to our participants for their many insightful questions and their great enthusiasm!
"Blue Earth Bot – Let’s Clean Up the Oceans!"
The oceans contain over 100 million tonnes of plastic including fishing nets, plastic bags, and more. Without needing any prior knowledge, the participants developed programmes for autonomous robots designed to clean our oceans and tested them in an interactive ocean simulation. (Chair of Applied Computer Science III)"Program Your Own Video Game!"
In this workshop, participants dived into the exciting world of coding and learnt, step by step, how to create their own small video game using Scratch. No prior experience was needed – just curiosity and creativity! (Game Innovation Lab)"Forests for Future – Forests in a Changing Climate"
What actually happens to trees and forests under climate change? Which tree species might become important in the future? And how can we learn about the history of trees? Through a simulation game, tree ring analysis, and a guided tour of the garden, participants discovered the importance of careers and research in environmental sciences and forestry. (ÖBG)"Drawing Functional Sensors with Pencils"
Sensors are all around us in everyday life – whether we realise it or not. In this workshop, the participants learnt how they work, where they are used, and how easily they can be made using pencils. Using their self-drawn sensors, they could measure angles and temperature changes. (Chair of Functional Materials)"Everyday Life Without Plastic? Unimaginable!"
Taking a look behind the scenes of the fascinating world of plastic processing, the participants found out how plastic is made, coloured, and shaped, and why this material is so important – both now and for the future. (Chair of Polymer Materials)"CSI Isotope Challenge ‘IsoTopSecret’"
"Who stole the coffee money?" – In trying to solve this mystery, participants acted as isotope detectives: they interviewed suspects, took hair samples, and analysed them along with water samples from various sources. They discovered how naturally occurring isotopes of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen can reveal information about a person's origin, last known locations, and diet – and how this data helped to solve the theft through isotope patterns. (BayCenSi)"Microplastics in the Environment & How Water Fleas Can Act as Our Tiny Spies"
Plastic is a highly versatile material, but it can also pose a threat to the environment. The participants explored whether there is such a thing as “good” or “bad” plastic and how microplastics form through everyday use of plastic products. What happens when plastic ends up in nature? How does it affect animals? Looking at water fleas (Daphnia) under the microscope revealed why these tiny creatures are such important environmental spies. (CRC Microplastics)We look forward to seeing some of our participants return to UBT as future STEM students!
Stefanie Raab-Somabe, Organiser of Girls' Day & Coordinator of STEM programmes | Equality QM Officer
Equal Opportunities Staff Unit at the University of Bayreuth
Universitätsstraße 30
Building B8
D- 95447 Bayreuth
Phone: +49 (0)921 / 55-2218
Mail: chancengleichheit@uni-bayreuth.de