100 girls visit ETH on the Kangaroo goes Science event
The 100 best girls from the Kangaroo mathematics competition were given the opportunity to visit ETH on 9 June. Former ski racer and physicist Dominique Gisin accompanied the girls as a mentor. ETH female researchers gave an insight into their research work.
The Mathematical Kangaroo is the world’s largest mathematics competition. Around 6 million 3rd to 13th graders from almost 100 countries take part. This year, the Department of Mathematics in cooperation with the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, with the Department of Health Sciences and Technology, with Kangaroo Switzerland Association and with 500 Women Scientists once again invited the 100 best Swiss girls from the competition to ETH. The Kangaroo goes Science event gives female 7th graders with an aptitude for maths a deeper insight into natural and engineering sciences.
On 9 June, the pupils visited the ETH Zurich Hönggerberg campus with their parents, where they were warmly welcomed by organisers Meike Akveld (D-MATH) and Darcy Molnar (D-BAUG). The morning programme comprised two lectures as well as three student presentations entitled "My journey to ETH". In the afternoon, the parents were provided with information about study options and enjoyed a tour of the campus.
Meanwhile, the girls got to discover the university in small groups with a mentor and visited a laboratory and a maths workshop. One mentor was the former ski racer and Olympic champion Dominique Gisin. She studied physics at ETH after retiring from skiing and is now actively involved in promoting girls' education.
The value of diversity and the wonderful world of STEM
The group with Dominique Gisin visited a quantum electronics lab and then solved the "Königsberg bridge problem" in a hands-on workshop, a well-known mathematical problem for which the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler (1707-1783) provided a famous proof. The corresponding field of research, graph theory, still plays an important role in mathematics and computer science today.
"I have the impression that the reluctance to study at ETH is higher among girls than boys, as ETH is regarded as tough. Kangaroo goes Science is a really valuable way of breaking down this barrier and getting to know female students. If only one girl joins ETH later on, it has been worth it," says Dominique Gisin.
Read the complete interview with Dominique Gisin in the D-MATH news. In it, the Olympic champion explains, among other things, that it is an advantage in coming to science from a different background and that it takes a diversity of people to solve the existing problems.
As part of the Kangaroo goes Science day, various ETH departments have created video portraits in which female ETH researchers give the schoolgirls an insight into their diverse and exciting research activities. Here you can find a selection. All video features from the series "The wonderful world of STEM" have been published by the Mathematics Department.
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