Karlsruhe

We transferred by train to Karlsruhe and toured the Karlsruhe Institut for Technology (KIT).  Our tour was titled “On the trail of nuclear research” which included learning about the history of nuclear energy from inside of a decommissioned nuclear reactor! We ended the day with a group dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. 

Today was truly a treat. We began the day at the Ernst-Reuter School where I was inspired throughout our tour. This is a secondary school with an amazingly warm and inviting staff who are passionate about helping all of their students to succeed. They have a philosophy that the school is the seed in the community and celebrate every “little luck” moment. They have many outdoor learning areas including ones with chickens and a crater garden! At the end of our tour, students explained that everyone who visits leaves a trace and invited us to create our traces in the form of footprints.

The afternoon was filled with a tour of the ZKM Center for Art and Media where we learned about AI in art, history of gaming, and the museum’s efforts for preserving videos through digitization. I have so many lessons I am creating for the upcoming school year through the inspiration I find each moment here.

 We began our day with a walking tour of the city. We learned why Karlsruhe is built in a fan shape, the history behind the Karlsruhe Palace, and so much more. As we toured, the guide pointed out that when you visit Germany and see old buildings mixed with new buildings and that is because the sites of the newer buildings were where bombs landed. We ended the tour at the Botanical Gardens for “coffee and cake.”  (I chose the Black Forest sundae, which was delicious.) The afternoon was free time so I joined a group to explore more of the city. We joined back together in the evening for a concert and then watched Germany in the Euro Cup.

Karlsruhe and Heidelberg, Germany: Our day began with a deeper exploration of the botanical gardens. We then headed to Heidelberg, where my heart was captured by such a beautiful city.  We toured a student prison (one of two in the world). Of course, the prison is no longer in use; it was originally used to help keep peace between Heidelberg University students and the locals, but turned into the “cool” place to be. Next up was a tour of the Heidelberg Castle!!! It was breathtaking and overlooked the city. The city escaped many of the bombings during the war and therefore has preserved the original structures. We then toured the city, complete with shopping (yes the gummy bears are beyond amazing here), and ended the day with a delicious, authentic German dinner.

Today was fabulous. We began the day at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, where preservice teachers shared their learning stations. As part of teacher preparation, the university students create a MINT (STEM) station for the mobile lab. The station can feature MINT in Motion or MINT moves sustainability. I was inspired by the amazing lessons and plan to use several in my STEAM lab!!!  We then went to the Stadt Karlsruhe where we learned about Karlsruhe’s efforts to become a green city. They currently have 4 flagship projects, and we saw their efforts in reducing heat and creating biological diversity and urban green spaces. We also learned about KIT’s sustainability research, which tabulates data on the city’s efforts, such as implementation of real-world labs including cargo bike rentals, plant swaps, repair clinics, and more!