Food technology, bronchial system and computer vision. Pupils from the European School Munich dealt with these diverse topics at this year's Jugend forscht (Youth Researches) Competition. With great success: at the Munich West regional competition, all teams from the ESM made it onto the winners' podium. Two groups even achieved first place in their category and will now take part in the state competition.
In Chemistry, Lisa Fleitmann and Julian Schalwig from S4 not only achieved first place. They also received the special prize for "Resource Efficiency" from the Federal Environment Ministry. This is because their research draws attention to the topic of sustainability in everyday life. With their project "Vegan Milk Foam reloaded", the young researchers examined the various components of cow's milk to find out how it can also spice up the foam of plant-based milk alternatives. The result of numerous series of experiments: By adding the proteins albumin and casein, rice milk also foams so voluminously and stably that one can confidently do without cow milk.
Two ESM students also devoted themselves to a highly topical subject in the field of biology. Alina Riederer and Jasmin Mader from S4 investigated "Masks and their effects on lung volume". Since the beginning of the school year, they, as well as the other groups, had worked on a project report of about 15 pages. On the day of the presentation, they presented their research and answered questions from the jury. For this, these two students were finally rewarded with first place in their category.
A third place in the technology category was achieved by Filip Bakstein and Konstantin Heiner from S5 with their "Human Recognizer". It consists of a small computer that takes photos and thermal images. An algorithm was trained by the two young researchers to recognise people in the images. They improved the hit rate with various experiments. The two want to use the device to support disaster relief workers, for example, to recognise victims of earthquakes more quickly. In addition to third place, they also received the "plus-MINT Special Prize for Interdisciplinary Projects" from the MINT-Talentförderung e.V. association.
Another special prize was awarded to the teachers who had supervised this year's projects. With Mr Feiler, Ms Wollscheid and Ms Zink, the European School Munich took part in Germany's best-known science school competition, Jugend forscht, for the third time this year. Although the school has not been represented at the competition many times before, it has always been able to present very good and successful projects.
The European School Munich would like to congratulate all the participants and project supervisors for their outstanding achievements and their commitment to science. The school also wishes the two groups from the Biology and Chemistry departments, who will be taking part in the state competition in April, good success there.
It is also very nice that young researchers from the previous school year were also represented again this year, refining their projects and further deepening their mathematical and scientific interest and knowledge. Pupils who would like to take part in Jugend forscht next year with their own creative inventions or curious research projects can already contact the Jufo team at the Secondary School: Ms Wollscheid, Mr Feiler, Ms Zink or the science teachers.
