Visit to the PIK Institute in Potsdam
(an scientific Institut that works on climate change)
Description:
We went to Potsdam to visit the PIK Institute. At first, we visited the interactive exhibition “Climate Kitchen” guided by a PIK scientist. He explained the history of the institute and of its founder figure. He explained how the school kids get introduced to the topic climate and climate change in this interactive “Climate Kitchen”. He showed the group the Climate- impacts in a special interactive online program, to show us the different future scenarios in climate change and their concequences. Later Professor Friedrich-Wilhelm Gerstengarbe talked to the group about climate monitoring and discussed with us about climate change.
Aim:
To improve participants specific and scientific knowledge on the topic of climate change and give everyone the opportunity to see and understand where and how scientific knowledge is produced.
Target group, group size age:
The interactive exhibition “Climate Kitchen” is good for all target groups, but especially for school kids and youngsters. It’s easier with smaller groups, because the rooms of the exhibition are quiet small.
The afterwards talk with Prof. Friedrich Wilhelm Gerstengarbe about scientific backgrounds was suitable just for adults.
Evaluation
Advantages:
- Participants had the chance to visit the PIK Institute and had the possibility to ask specific questions to experts and scientists.
The Climate Kitchen visit offered participants the chance to understand the topic of climate change through practical and “touchable” features and could better understand the climate monitoring and future forecast referred to the program “ClimateImpactsOnline”.
Disadvantages
We expected to visit not only the education-museum “Climate Kitchen” but to actually get inside the Institute and see the scientists at work
We expected a longer, more specific and scientific presentation from the hosts while the common impression was that the visit was structured like any other high scool class field trip.
Limits dangers and difficulties
Participants did not ask many questions when they had the chance to, probably for two reasons:
the “lecture” of the professor was not specific enough and did not give enough inputs to raise particular doubts or questions;
the organisation team should have asked participants to prepare a set of important questions before going.
The Climate Kitchen was very small and the group was very big.
Improvements and variations of the method
The organisation team could have better explained to the PIK hosts the level of knowledge of the group of participants in order to capture the knowledge needs of everyone.
The visit would have been more interesting if there had been the chance to go inside the PIK to see where the real work is done.
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