"You are now part of a shipyard which already has a lot of experience in shipbuilding. Since Corona has caused fewer people to go on a cruise recently, there have been very few orders in recent months. However, a well-known shipping company has now issued a tender for a new cruise ship. You guys really want to take this order. However, you can only build the cruise ship for this large order by joining forces. The digital platform supports you in exchanging information, placing orders and trading. Will you be able to build a ship that can float together?"
With these words, Anika Röwekamp, a student teacher in mechanical engineering, introduced one of the five newly developed workshops. Since April, 13 master's students in the vocational fields of electrical and mechanical engineering have been developing three-hour workshops on the overarching topic of Industry 4.0 as part of a student seminar at the University of Paderborn. Their task: to make topics such as "Digital Twin," "Digital Platforms," "Big Data," "Machine Learning," and "IT Security" tangible for students aged 11 to 16. On Thursday, July 15, the students tested their workshop ideas as part of a "vacation special." Two workshops took place in the coolMINT.padeborn student lab in the HNF, and three workshops were tested digitally via Zoom. The vacation special met with great interest throughout OWL: 30 students registered and were enthusiastic about the new offer. They traded on digital platforms, went on a collision course with app-controlled mobile robot balls, solved the phishing quiz, tested the computer-assisted tutor and discussed the question "How do I become the most successful influencer in my class?" on the basis of Big Data. On the part of the students, too, there were only satisfied faces. Niklas Kleinewietfeld: "It was so motivating to work on a practical task in the digital semester, to apply the theories they had learned and even to try them out in real life today."
The workshop development was part of a technology didactics seminar within the master's degree program in teaching at vocational colleges for the vocational subjects of electrical engineering and mechanical engineering technology. The students were asked to put into practice the skills and abilities they had acquired in their bachelor's studies and to reflect on them based on literature. They received technical input by visiting the virtual innovation show Industrial Pioneers OWL and interviewing experts. In the future, the new modules will be bookable for groups of students in the coolMINT.paderborn student lab. In addition, they will be included in the so-called MINTmachPOOL as part of the BMBF-funded project MINT 4.OWL and offered as mobile offerings throughout OWL. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Katrin Temmen, head of the Department of Technology Didactics, who developed this seminar concept for the master's students, is pleased: "I am thrilled when research and teaching as well as theory and practice are intertwined in such a way that the entire region benefits from the results ".
