Lessons that inspire pupils

The new “Science Teacher of the Year” comes from Hamburg: Kerstin Gleine has been awarded the Klaus von Klitzing Prize, worth 15,000 euros, which was presented for the ninth time by the University of Oldenburg and the EWE Foundation.

Kerstin Gleine, a teacher of science, technology and physics at the Friedrich-Ebert-Gymnasium in Hamburg, has been named “Teacher of the Year for Science Subjects”. At a ceremony held at the Altes Gymnasium in Oldenburg, she received the Klaus von Klitzing Prize, worth 15,000 euros, which was awarded for the ninth time by the University of Oldenburg and the EWE Foundation.

The prize’s namesake, Nobel Laureate in Physics Prof. Dr Klaus von Klitzing, presented the award in person. Kerstin Gleine is a highly dedicated and creative teacher who has inspired a passion for STEM subjects in her pupils right from their very first lesson. Klitzing explained the jury’s decision, stating that she possesses outstanding subject-specific and methodological expertise, which she is constantly expanding.

Kerstin Gleine has been teaching physics, science and technology, and Spanish for 24 years. She has been teaching at the Friedrich-Ebert-Gymnasium in Hamburg for the past three years, where she is the STEM coordinator. She developed a STEM stream for the school that focuses on inquiry-based learning and encourages independent scientific work and thinking. The aim is to inspire young people’s enthusiasm for STEM subjects at an early stage, in order to equip the next generation of talent with methodical and interdisciplinary subject knowledge.

The teacher devised cross-curricular teaching concepts and school projects, and, in collaboration with her colleagues, restructured the STEM curriculum for Years 5 to 10. She set up the ‘STEM’ research workshop, as well as a ‘Climate’ and a ‘Robotics’ club. Together with her pupils, she created a learning garden to serve as an outdoor science laboratory. Topics such as botany and entomology, sustainable nutrition, meteorology and renewable energy technology are taught there. In 2011, she initiated and organised her school’s first pupil STEM congress and has since coordinated the annual event in co-operation with partners from industry and academia.

Gleine has a strong network within the worlds of science and research: the ‘Robotics Club’, for example, runs in co-operation with the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg. In 2012, she organised a ‘Summer School in Aviation for Girls from Germany’s MINT Excellence Centre Schools’ for sixth-form girls, in which, alongside Hamburg’s universities, Airbus, Lufthansa Technik and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) also participated. Under her leadership, the Friedrich-Ebert-Gymnasium was awarded the status of a ‘MINT Excellence School’ (MINT-EC) and certified as an ‘International Agenda 21 School’.

Strengthening her pupils’ soft skills, developing their competencies in project management, teamwork and presentation techniques, and expanding their foreign language skills – these are also matters of particular importance to her. And Gleine has been successful in this: her pupils achieved top places in the Daniel Düsentrieb Technology Competition for schools in the State of Hamburg and in the regional ‘Jugend forscht’ competition.

Gleine, who regularly secures funding for her projects, is the subject specialist for technology in the STEM department at the State Institute for Teacher Training and School Development, as well as the State Representative for the State of Hamburg for the promotion of school gardening. “Teachers like Kerstin Gleine demonstrate that research-oriented learning in the classroom is essential for motivating pupils. If we are serious about inspiring more young people to study STEM subjects, we must strengthen this particular form of teaching,” explained Prof. Dr Babette Simon, President of the University of Oldenburg.

“The Klaus von Klitzing Prize honours teachers who know how to inspire their pupils’ fascination with science and technology in unique and innovative ways. According to recent studies, it is of central importance – particularly in the so-called STEM subjects – that content is taught in a more research- and practice-oriented manner. That is why the EWE Foundation has been committed to this area since its establishment in 2002,” said Dr Werner Brinker, Chairman of the Board of the EWE Foundation.

In addition to von Klitzing, the jury comprises representatives from the University of Oldenburg, the EWE Foundation and the Karl Heinz Beckurts Foundation. In total, the jury received 42 applications from across Germany.