At the beginning of the special day, PIK Equal Opportunities Representative Christine von Bloh welcomed the 22 schoolgirls to the Institute and gave them an insight into her everyday work. After a short round of introductions, Maria Zeitz, a doctoral student in the Ice Dynamics working group, inspired them with her research on Greenland ice. The students found the growth of algae on the ice and the resulting temperature differences on its surface particularly interesting.
Afterwards, Constanze Werner, PhD student in the Department of Earth System Analysis, gave an introduction into working with models and their parameters. The students were then able to test their new knowledge with a programming game in which they applied simple commands in an interactive way.
The knowledge gained during the day was put to good use in a climate conference simulation game, the grand finale at the end of the day. Divided into three different country groups, they fought for the interests of their assigned countries in a virtual climate conference. Despite some major differences of opinion, the groups were finally able to agree on a result that would put the world on a path to a global warming of up to 2 degrees.
Girls' Day is Germany's largest career orientation project for schoolgirls and has had about 1.9 million participants since its start in 2001. The aim is to arouse greater interest in girls for occupational fields in which women are still underrepresented. Girls'Day is funded by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ) and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). This year, Girls' Day took place at PIK for the 11th time.
Weblink to Girls' Day:
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