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How do you get electricity from water? Why can the Pythagorean theory help build a garden? How did kids live in the Stone Age? The answers to these and many more questions are provided in the Green Classroom. Students experience the answers on their discovery tour of the outdoors — at this year’s Regional Garden Show in Villingen-Schwenningen, for example.

The Garden Show has been open to nature lovers big and small since last month. The Green Classroom project invites students of all ages to learn more about 50 different subjects which are not usually found in text books. These include encounters with local fauna and flora using living objects. Furthermore, participants acquire interesting facts about sports and health, regional history and culture, religion and society, and forestry.

Carl Zeiss is also playing its part: the technology company provides students with the appropriate optical equipment. The success of the Green Classroom at four garden shows and as part of the green project in Rechberghausen has already attracted a lot of attention and has become a trendsetting model for success. Over the past two years, more than 800 school classes have attended this unique class. Time does not stand still, nor does the Green Classroom: The program now comprises subjects covering job orientation and “green professions.”

June 16, 2010