OPENSEA Helgoland

Helgoland is Germany’s only deep-sea island located around 60 kilometers offshore the northern German mainland. The Biological Institute Helgoland was established as the Royal Biological Institute back in 1892. Today our institute offers an outstanding scientific platform for research on the island’s underwater world. This specific habitat, the rocky underwater world is unique in the North Sea with more than 1000 species, 400 animals and 600 plants, a hot spot in terms of biodiversity; the Galapagos is the German Bight for biologists.

The school lab OPENSEA offers a scientific environment to explore marine science, thereby promoting young peoples’ scientific thinking. In close cooperation with the scientists, we provide add on’s to the syllabus for high school graduates and encourage the scholars to actively ask scientific questions, conduct experiments and collect field data to find conclusive answers and to foster scientific thinking.

Scholars experience ecological processes very close to current research topics and learn more about the urgent need to protect the oceans.

Aims:

• OPENSEA offers experience outside the classroom for high school graduates with special interests in natural science and marine biology
• Hands on experiments in the field and in the lab to deepen the knowledge
• Foster understanding of scientific thinking applying complex experimental design (combine mathematical and physical topics with practical biological and chemical experiments).

Currently all OPENSEA classes are given in German. As soon as we offer OPENSEA classes in English you will find here further information.  If you have any questions, please contact André Querbach or Christina Kieserg or send us an Email: opensea@awi.de.