The new "Teacher of the Year for Science Subjects" comes from Jülich: Werner Decker received the € 15,000 Klaus von Klitzing Prize, awarded for the tenth time by the University of Oldenburg and the EWE Foundation.
Werner Decker, teacher of biology and chemistry at the Haus Overbach grammar school in Jülich - Barmen, is "Teacher of the Year for Science Subjects". He recently received the €15,000 Klaus von Klitzing Prize in Oldenburg.
The prize's namesake, Nobel Prize winner in physics Prof Dr Klaus von Klitzing, presented the award in person for the tenth year running. "In over 20 years of commitment, senior teacher Werner Decker has not only inspired pupils to take an interest in environmental sciences, chemistry and biology, but has also motivated young teachers to go above and beyond the normal level of engagement with these subjects," said von Klitzing, explaining the jury's decision.
Decker, whose application for the award was submitted by a former pupil and current biology teacher, has been a biology and chemistry teacher at Haus Overbach Grammar School since 1985. The senior teacher is a supervising teacher for the STEM subjects - Mathematics, Computing Science, Natural Sciences and Technology - and is particularly committed to scientific exchange between the grammar school, universities and the Jülich research centre. He has initiated numerous co-operations: Scientists regularly report in science lessons at the grammar school, and pupils go on annual excursions to the Institute for Resource Extraction at RWTH Aachen University or to the Jülich research centre. For the 18th World Hydrogen Energy Conference 2010 in Essen, Decker developed a concept for a "student-teacher day" that offered more than 300 students the opportunity to take part in the conference and engage in dialogue with scientists.
Together with pupils and in co-operation with Aachen University of Applied Sciences, he set up a 38 square metre photovoltaic system. Commissioned in 2001, it serves as a practical example in physics, chemistry and technology lessons and has so far produced over 50,000 kilowatt hours of solar power - as much as a family of four consumes in ten years.
Decker's "FIT-AG" has an unusual educational concept that has since been recognised by the "Science On Stage" initiative in the "Science Teacher of the Future" category. "FIT" stands for "research-internal-school-transfer". The special thing about it: Pupils in Year 5 are supported and guided in their experiments by older pupils. Within one lesson, several experiments are carried out in small groups, analysed and recorded. The teacher acts as a moderator. In this way, the fifth-graders gain an early insight into the natural sciences. The older pupils, in turn, draw on their scientific knowledge and also acquire pedagogical and social skills.
Over the years, Decker's pupils have come top in science competitions and received numerous awards. The teacher places particular emphasis on the school competition "Jugend forscht". He has supervised groups of pupils who have been successful at regional and state level. Since 2001, Decker has also volunteered as a regional competition organiser for "Jugend forscht" in Jülich.
Since 2013, Decker has also been focussing on young teachers and is co-initiator of a project to promote young teachers in the STEM field at Haus Overbach secondary school. With success: the concept is funded by MINT-EC, the Association of Mathematics and Science Excellence Centres at Schools, as one of only four school projects nationwide.
"Pupils are particularly enthusiastic about STEM subjects when their spirit of research is awakened at an early age. Highly committed educators like Werner Decker ensure that the spark is ignited and pupils decide to study STEM subjects. This is a socially important and gratifying fact - especially from the perspective of a university that has a strong tradition in teacher training and places great value on research-oriented teaching," explained Prof Dr Gunilla Budde, Vice President for Studies and Teaching at the University of Oldenburg.
"For ten years now, the Klaus von Klitzing Prize has been awarded to teachers who know how to inspire their students in a special and innovative way in the field of science and technology. According to recent studies, it is particularly important in the so-called MINT subjects that their content is taught in a research and practice-oriented way," said Dr Werner Brinker, Chairman of the Board of Management of the EWE Foundation. With the Klaus-von-Klitzing Prize, the EWE Foundation wants to honour teachers who have rendered outstanding services in this area. Two thirds of the prize money is earmarked for a school project, so that the pupils also benefit from it. Since its establishment in 2002, the EWE Foundation has been committed to science and technology education in a variety of ways, said Brinker.
In addition to von Klitzing, the jury includes representatives from the University of Oldenburg, the EWE Foundation and the Karl Heinz Beckurts Foundation. It received a total of 37 applications from all over Germany.
