"I was able to develop my personality further"

As part of the "Sportistry" project, teaching-learning formats are being developed for students from the fields of chemistry and sports science in order to offer student labs based on them. Teacher trainee Luisa Klappenberger and sports student Grischa Walzer report on the many ways in which they benefit from the interdisciplinary collaboration.

Which sugars and sugar substitutes are found in food? What effects do they have on our health? What chemical processes take place in the human body? For whom could the use of certain sugar substitutes be useful? And what does all this mean for athletes? These are precisely the kinds of questions that interdisciplinary students on the Chemistry, Sport and Health teaching degree programs, as well as the Bachelor's degree program in Sport Science and Health, are addressing. "Sportistry - Understanding nutrition and energy supply in an interdisciplinary way" is the name of the project behind it, which is funded by the Klaus Tschira Foundation.

Learning from different specialist expertise

The focus is not only on expanding the students' skills, but also on involving school pupils as part of a laboratory day: In the school laboratory "CLeVerLab" - short for "Chemistry, Learning and Understanding Laboratory" - one student from the chemistry department and one from the sports department each supervise a small group of around four sixth form students. Together, they carry out a series of experiments, evaluate the results and draw conclusions. The students contribute their various specialist expertise to all of this. The aim is for the pupils to learn - and the students to learn and teach.

Helping pupils to think in a networked way

Luisa Klappenberger, who is in her fifth semester of a bachelor's degree in chemistry and physical education, is also involved. When asked about her choice of subjects, she says that she chose sport out of passion and chemistry thanks to her interest in the natural sciences. She is taking part in "Sportistry" because it is a "great opportunity to gain teaching experience". The 21-year-old is also a student assistant in chemistry didactics - so she was also involved in the development of the experiments beforehand: "As a student assistant, I'm involved in the organization and implementation. I have helped to optimize one or two experimental setups so that the experiments can be carried out well." For example, she worked on various detection reactions for sugar solutions. "I was also involved in drawing up the accompanying worksheets." She always felt very well integrated into the chemistry didactics team - "it was all a lot of fun".

During the pupils' lab day in the "CLeVerLab", working with the pupils and other students was very enriching: "I was able to answer questions and offer help with the experiments". And in general: "Helping the students to think in a networked way and observing how they develop their own skills was really exciting for me as a prospective teacher."

And overall? What will she take with her for her future career? "I think I was able to develop my own personality, my personality as a teacher." In addition to the ability to supervise, this also includes the ability to plan. "Organizational skills are important later on in the teaching profession." The interdisciplinary thinking of the project also appealed to her: "I would like to give my students such interdisciplinary approaches later on."

"In the field of sports science, knowledge of chemistry is essential"

Grischa Walzer, who is in his fourth semester of a Bachelor's degree in Sports Science and Health - and is also an active soccer player at FC Homburg - had a slightly different - but also very positive - experience. The 21-year-old reports that he can imagine a career in sports management later on. He took part in "Sportistry" to expand his knowledge of nutrition. A topic, he says, that will play a role in his future career - no matter what direction it takes. What's more: "An important part of my degree is the natural sciences. And here you have a practical relevance for a better understanding." In general, knowledge of chemical processes in the body is essential for sports scientists - you should also be able to demonstrate knowledge of laboratory work: "The project has definitely refreshed my knowledge of laboratory work."

"I would have wished for an internship like this as a student"

And how did he benefit from working with the students? "Working with new, unfamiliar people is always enriching." He will certainly have that later in his professional life, "perhaps customer contact with a wide variety of people".

Incidentally, the students were able to benefit in several ways, adds Grischa Walzer. Because: "To be honest, I would have liked to have done an internship like this as a pupil. It's a great opportunity to exchange ideas with real students. As a pupil, you ask completely different questions here than you would if you were talking to the student advisory service." In addition to interdisciplinary knowledge about nutrition, the students also received information about campus life, lecturers and anything else they might want to know as future first-year students. Interdisciplinary collaboration, a win-win situation for everyone - and for several reasons.