Fostering Girls

In natural scientific university programmes, especially in engineering, women are still underrepresented. This leads to a lack in specialists in industry. It is therefore our task to inspire women already at a young age for engineering professions and study programmes.

For this purpose, the Collaborative Research Center 1026 "Sustainable Manufacturing - Shaping Global Value Creation", represented by the department Assembly Technology and Factory Management, participates every year in the federal day of action "Girls' Day - Mädchen-Zukunftstag" (girls' future day) with an own event.

It is the goal of the Girls' Day to inspire girls early for subjects in mathematics, information technology, natural sciences and technology (MINT).

On this page, you find information about the Girls' Days realised in our department. The final goal is to develop and realise a concept for the transfer of knowledge about sustainability oriented production technologies.

Girls' Day 2012: Light and Bright Experiments

The first Girls' Day of the Collaborative Research Center 1026 "Sustainable Manufacturing - Shaping Global Value Creation" was under the motto "Light and Bright Experiments". The event was divided in two teaching modules. In the first module, the girls learned how energy is retrieved from sunlight. This way, the ground for the comprehension for later activities and experiments was created. For this module, the girls compared the specific light emission of lamps and sun and their effects on heating water. The applied this knowledge by building a solar oven mit parabolic mirrors and making chocolate fondue. In the second part of the module, the question was answered, why storing energy is such a big challenge. Exemplified in fuel cells, this knowledge was deepened and applied in a race with self-made model cars fueled by hydrogen.

This way, the girls were inspired for scientific topics around sustainability. They gathered insight into the challenges of sustainable manufacturing and the scientific treatment of these topics.

 

Read about the Girls' Day 2012 from the perspective of a participant (in German)

 

Find an overview of the single units of the teaching modules here.

Girls' Day 2013: Gold Rush in the Mobile Phone!

 

Why do mobile phones contain gold, silver and other precious metals or rare earths? During Girls' Day on April 25, 2013, 19 girls between 10 and 13 years of age have got to the bottom of this question at the Production Technology Centre (PTZ) Berlin. After learning some things about rare resources, they took matters in their own hands. In small groups the girls disassembled old mobile phones and identified the contained raw materials with the help of a "Raw Materials Briefcase" that was developed at the IASS Potsdam. In their progress, they discovered which different raw materials are put into mobile phones and how much energy is needed for their processing.

Afterwards, the girls could try out different technological solutions for sustainable production in the PTZ Test field: They manufactured wristbands with a 3D printer, experimented with solar energy and cleaned with dry-ice blasting – an environmentally friendly industrial cleaning process.

 

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Girls' Day 2014: The History Behind a Product and Assembly Lines from Lego

What is the history behind products of our daily life? How can production be designed more efficiently? 16 girls aged ten to twelve got to the bottom of these and other questions at the Girls' Day – Mädchen-Zukunftstag (girls' future day) in the PTZ Berlin. The collaborative research center 1026 "Sustainable Manufacturing" and the Department of Production Technology and Factory Management of the TU Berlin took even part with two projects in this year's girls' day.

One group was concerned with the steps needed to produce a good. The girls could try out themselves which differences there are between subtractive production processes like milling and additive processes like 3D printing. The second group assembled production lines from lego bricks and talked about how more efficiency could be reached.
The tutors of both groups offered insight on the daily life of a researcher in the field of sustainable manufacturing and discussed possibilities about how to enter this professional field in the future.

All in all, the participants were thrilled: "My tutor was really nice and answered all my questions. Thank yo for the lovely day!" said one of the happy girls.

 

Contact

M.A. Ina Roeder