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Girls' Day 2018

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Girls' Day is a countrywide event to introduce schoolgirls to disciplines and careers in which women are usually underrepresented. More information on this event can be found here.

This year, it took place on Thursday April 26th 2018.

Early career scientists in W2W and researchers at the partner institutions organized this event in Munich (LMU), in Mainz (JGU), in Heidelberg (HITS) and in Karlsruhe (KIT).

  • At the LMU in Munich, 14 girls between 12 and 17 years old took part in a workshop called "Wind, Wetter und Klimawandel". The participants learned about the water cycle in the atmosphere and the formation of clouds, they drew their own weather chart and compared it to real-time satellite images, they implemented the “Lewis Richardson’s Forecast Factory” by solving the temperature advection equation at several grid points over Germany to predict the temperature in Munich, and they finally asked questions about studying and working at the institute. The participants were very active and learned a lot. The program of the workshop is available here and on the website of the Faculty of Physics.

Group_GD2018Girls' Day participants on the roof on the meteorological institute in Munich

  • At the JGU in Mainz, 16 school girls between 11 and 13 years old participated in the workshop "What is needed for a weather prediction?" A short introductory presentation about weather and climate was given by Volkmar Wirth (head of the meteorological institute). The participants enjoyed it very much and were eager to ask questions about. The school girls then constructed their own windmill, wind vane and thermometer. In the afternoon they took a tour of the roof instruments, tested their self-made wind devices in the wind tunnel and watched clouds form in a cloud chamber. The program description can be found here.
group_jgu_gd_2018Girls' Day participants on the roof on the meteorological institute in Mainz. Photo: Pola Hildebrandt (JGU)
  • The Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS) participated in Girls’ Day for the fourth time. The Computational Statistics (CST) group introduced how modern weather forecasts are produced, and showed the girls how to write a small computer program for analyzing weather forecasts of the German weather service. Using a "forecast game" developed by a former group member, the participants could test their understanding of probabilities and ability to predict the weather by making probabilistic rainfall forecasts. The girls quickly learned how much science is needed to make weather forecasts reliable. More information on this workshop is available here.

HITS_GD_2018Sebastian Lerch explaining a small computer program to the participants. Photo: Isabel Lacurie (HITS)

  • At KIT in Karlsruhe, 15 school girls between 9 and 15 years old participated in the workshop „Clouds, weather, vortices, climate” and gained insight about the multifaceted work of a meteorologist. The female researchers introduced themselves and their research topic. The participants then explained their motivation to take part in this workshop and tested their knowledge during a quiz. They then took part in the launching of a radiosonde. The participants made five experiments, and the data of the radiosonde was finally discussed. All participants were very focused, curious, and enthusiastic about the workshop.
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