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Campus and People
has made me more certain than ever
that science and physics in particular
are the direction I want to take in my
future career.”
During the internship the young
people also had the opportunity to
offer their ideas to shape the content
of future courses. “They could formulate
their own questions, for instance
on the heart topic,” Ulrike Mittmann
said. “Processes like atherosclerosis
are still in the remote future for these
young people. We want to know what
they are really interested in.” Thus,
the question whether James Bond in
the movie “Casino Royale” could really
rescue himself with an electric shock
– he grabbed his portable defibrillator
out of the glove compartment and
shocked his heart back to life – led to
the idea of showing this movie clip as
an introduction to the heart course.
Other questions the ninth graders had
been wondering about also came up,
such as: “Does a hole in the heart
always require surgery?” The teenagers’
feedback and input will flow into the
heart project of “GenaU”, a network
of student labs at research institutions
and universities in Berlin and
Brandenburg.
Besides assisting in the courses,
doing their own experiments and
learning theory, routine work for the
courses also had to be done in the
student internship: weighing chemicals,
preparing the gene lab, laying out
materials such as Eppi reaction tubes
and pipette tips at the workplaces.
“That is also part of our work,” Ulrike
Mittmann said. “And of course it was
quite natural for the young people to
share in doing the lab chores.”
Christin (15) is a student at Ernst
Reuter High School and would like to
become a chemist. That is why she
applied for an internship in the Life
Science Learning Lab. “The experiments
were what I enjoyed most,” she said,
“especially making gummy bears.”
She worked together with Emél (14)
from Robert Havemann High School.
Emél chose the internship because
she is curious about everything that
has to do with human biology. She
was already acquainted with the Life
Science Learning Lab and had been to
Berlin-Buch several times. When asked
what she had gained from the internship,
she answered: “Now I know that
I do not want to work as a biologist
in the laboratory. What I would like
to study or become instead? – I’m not
sure. Perhaps dentistry or training as
a dental technician.” However, she still
has plenty of time to try out different
options, reflect on these and decide.
Like the two girls, Daniel (14) and
Fabian (14) from Robert Havemann
High School came to quite different
conclusions after the student internship.
While Daniel doubted whether
chemistry would be the right choice for
him, Fabian’s ideas of what it would be
like to be a researcher in a laboratory
were confirmed.
For children and young people who
participate in the courses and take
part in the internships of the Life
Science Learning Lab, this is often the
first time they come into contact with
scientific work. So it was for Josephine
Jahnke (20), who is currently training
to be a biology lab assistant at the
MDC. As a former student of Robert
Havemann High School she visited the
Life Science Learning Lab repeatedly
in her courses in biology. “Today I am
very glad that I went to this school
because otherwise I would never have
hit upon the idea to become a biology
lab assistant,” she recalls. “Now I
am in my second year as trainee and
already work regularly in the research
group of Professor Michael Bader. And
I find working in the lab to be lots of
fun.”
“Through the internships we often
inspire interested students to embark
on science careers,” explained Claudia
Jacob, project director in the Life
Science Learning Lab. “Several former
interns support us at the experimental
stands during the Long Night of the
Sciences or during the activity days
of the Technology Foundation Berlin
at the Urania venue. Quite a few are
now studying science at university.
Under certain circumstances, a career
in science can begin with a class visit
to the Life Science Learning Lab. It
has not yet been decided whether the
team of the Life Science Learning Lab
will repeat the format of the compact
internship in the next school year, but
the conclusion of the organizers, course
leaders and students is clear: The
compact internship for the ten students
was a complete success!
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