She organises student academies, writes children's books and volunteers in international aid projects: Teacher Wiebke Endres from Wilhelmshaven, an alumna of the university, was awarded the Klaus von Klitzing Prize this year.
Always in a good mood, witty, full of ideas and spontaneity: this is how pupils and colleagues from Neues Gymnasium Wilhelmshaven describe head teacher Dr Wiebke Endres, a specialist teacher of mathematics and chemistry. "She is constantly developing new ideas for the next project and the one after that. Her commitment cannot be overestimated," says Prof Dr Verena Pietzner, Vice President of the University of Oldenburg and university lecturer in the didactics of chemistry. She supervised the doctoral thesis, which 40-year-old Endres completed in 2018 alongside her teaching job.
Endres has now been honoured for her commitment with the Klaus von Klitzing Prize, which has been awarded jointly by the University of Oldenburg and the EWE Foundation since 2005. It honours outstanding commitment in the subjects of Mathematics, Computing Science, Natural Sciences and Technology, the so-called MINT subjects. Endres, who beat 33 competitors from all over Germany, received the 15,000 euro award at a digital ceremony. She is a true all-rounder and demonstrates "above-average commitment to maths and the natural sciences", said the jury, explaining their decision. In addition to namesake and Nobel Prize winner Prof Dr Klaus von Klitzing, the panel includes representatives from the University of Oldenburg, the EWE Foundation and the headmaster of the Graf Anton Günther School, where the award ceremony usually takes place.
In fact, the Wilhelmshaven educator has realised an impressive number of ideas in recent years. These include multi-day student academies with different focal points, a new radio format in which students present experiments for home use, participation in the "Experimentation Mile" in Wilhelmshaven, as well as a co-operation with the magazine "Chemie in unserer Zeit", which enables students from all over Germany to publish their first scientific articles. Endres, who is also a member of the school management team at Neues Gymnasium, campaigned for her school to become a Biosphere School and a STEM School of Excellence. She recently founded the association "Teachers without Borders", which supports educational projects in developing and emerging countries and is committed to international cooperation between schools.
"We must not forget the children and young people who have no access to education," said Endres at the award ceremony. She plans to donate her personal share of the prize money totalling 5,000 euros to a school for disabled children in Bali. At home in Wilhelmshaven, she focuses on experiments and excursions in her lessons, travelling with her class, a science profile class, to the Wilhelmshaven aquarium or visiting a farm, for example. According to the teacher, her role is to encourage pupils to pursue their dreams. She wants to foster the young people's talent, awaken their curiosity and give them space to be creative and try things out.
"She really works tirelessly to familiarise children with scientific topics," praises Vice President Pietzner. A good example of this is the "Akademie am Meer" (Academy by the Sea), founded by Endres, in which fourth to sixth graders learn in an interdisciplinary and practical way how relevant the natural sciences are for environmental protection, for example. University President Prof Dr Ralph Bruder was also impressed by the way Endres inspires pupils of different ages for mathematics and science. "Supported by successful co-operations, she succeeds in integrating science and research into the everyday lives of children and young people. As a university that is committed to research-oriented teaching and learning, we are particularly pleased about this," said Bruder.
Klaus von Klitzing, who spent his early school years in Oldenburg, is, among other things, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart and a member of the International Solvay Institute. In 1980, he discovered a new quantum effect and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1985. The Von Klitzing constant named after him had a significant influence on modern semiconductor development and precision measurement technology. He has held an honorary doctorate from the University of Oldenburg since 2006.