9 Education
↑ Pascale Petry The principal of the Lycée Michel Lucius international secondary school, speaking to Delano in July.
Scienteens Lab has a team of five scientists from different fields with diverse career histories. It also has the support of nine researchers at the university and 12 teachers in Luxembourg. For schools, there is a wide range of workshops. Maths students can dive into cryptography and graph theory. Biology pupils can focus on DNA and study protein. Physics fanatics can explore visible and invisible types of light. Each discipline offers at least two workshops. Scienteens Lab also participates in Researchers’ Days, held in November, and offers one-week internships. This summer it launched the Science Academy, a seven-day interdisciplinary workshop for students aged 16 years and above, designed to hone modelling and computer simulation skills. Dr John points out that science outreach and communications have come a long way in Luxembourg and there are a lot of actors involved from the National Research Fund to the Natural History Museum. Luxembourg also hosts a National Science Contest and a Biology Olympiad, and researchers regularly visit schools to talk about their jobs. She also highlights the many initiatives this year to encourage girls to consider careers in science. “Of course there is always room for improvement, but like scientific research, it involves collaboration on an international level,” John says. Scienteens Lab already collaborates with its counterparts in Germany and welcomes students from the Greater Region. “When high school students are part of the whole process, from formulating hypotheses to doing experiments and finding answers to their own questions, they are more likely to understand the exciting part of science, its × diversity and the thrill of discovery.” ↳ Search for “Scienteens Lab” on www.uni.lu
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Sarita Rao Mike Zenari
The ISL’s Tess Charnaud wants to inspire children about science
Sparking scientific minds Since childhood, science has been Tess Charnaud’s obsession: “The everlasting ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ like why is the sky blue, why do plants breathe, why are cheetahs so fast or how does electricity get from the pylon to my house?” The answers she got in childhood were often disappointing, so she sought a way to learn more and to answer those questions for others. Charnaud came to Luxembourg ten years ago, following a successful career as head of science at a UK school. Initially she set up a tutoring business,
before joining the International School of Luxembourg, where she currently teaches biology and chemistry at secondary level, in addition to studying for her doctorate in education. Teaching has changed a lot during her career and Charnaud no longer uses a chalkboard, but says that much of the content is the same. However, she admits that things like Crispr (a technique in DNA manipulation), genome editing and stem cell use in disease treatment have all become realities in her lifetime. → “What also continuously changes
The Journal
“We’re at capacity. We’re nearly 500 in the English classes.”