On 28th April 2005 the fifth annual Girls’ Day took place. On this day all technical businesses, companies with technical departments and universities and research centres open their doors to female pupils in the 5th to 10th classes. The aim is to give the female pupils an insight into the careers that women rarely choose to enter.
As in the previous years, the Hochschule Fulda took part in the event and gave around 40 female pupils between the ages of 11 and 17 the opportunity to gain an insight into the technical degrees (Applied Computer Science, Food Technology, Electro-Technology and Information Technology), which are rarely chosen by females. Between 8.30am and 3pm the girls could take part in various workshops and during the lunch break had the chance to talk to female students from the faculties offering the technical degrees.
The Food Technology faculty introduced itself in the morning with their workshop ‘Sugar and Co.’ and the pupils were given the opportunity to make their own lollies. In the Electro-Technology and Information Technology faculty, a light barrier stopwatch was soldered and it was demonstrated how robots learn to walk.
In the afternoon, the faculty of Applied Computer Science gave the pupils the opportunity to learn about the inside life of a PC. The junior mentors from the ‘Hessen mentoring network for women in science and technology’ had taken PCs apart. By means of introduction, the pupils were shown the components and explained what each part of the PC does. Then the pupils, armed with screwdrivers, had to demonstrate what they had learned and put the PCs back together so that they would work in the workshop.
The components were put back into the computer and screwed together in two groups. At the end the pupils had to wait to see if they had succeeded. After a few tests the pupils succeeded and the PCs worked normally again.