Welcome to the kitchen experiments!

This day at the ICBM is not just about what happens in the ocean and on the coasts and how we can research it. No, today we are also taking a whole day to share our knowledge with you. Normally, we therefore like to invite schoolchildren and their teachers to inform themselves in stimulating discussions and perhaps even get hands-on in the Institute's laboratories. Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus, this is not yet possible at the university this year.

Nevertheless, we would like to give you lots of interesting insights into our work. I am a student on the Bachelor's degree programme in Environmental Sciences and have been thinking about how I can help. To start with, I have picked out some pressing problems such as ocean acidification and microplastics. I would like to introduce you to these topics by means of simple experiments that can be carried out in any kitchen using common household items.

I have also prepared explanatory videos to go with them. Once they have shown you a few things and hopefully clarified them, you can get to work yourself. You can use three experiments to find out what problems we humans cause in the sea and on the coast. After the experiments, you can take part in a final quiz.

We start with a brief introduction to the problems that we humans cause through excessive consumption and the resulting mountains of rubbish. Not only the researchers, but all of us must learn to focus our attention on what causes these problems. Only if we understand what is polluting our marine and coastal areas can we change our behaviour.

Click here for the experiments:

1. Acidification of the oceans
2. Microplastics
3. Oil pollution

To the quiz