Conferences and the classroom

Throughout the year, thousands of inquisitive minds from across the world travel to the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany to attend cutting-edge courses and conferences^w1. Not only popular amongst scientists, these events also attract teachers and students. But, they all come for the same reason: to learn from the best in the international scientific community.

Hendrika van Waveren is one of the many teachers captivated by the laboratory’s charm. A biology teacher from Hannover, Germany, she has attended the Science and Society Conferences at EMBL for the last 5 years. What is it about these talks that always bring her back for more?

For Hendrika, the conference is all about gathering new material, and this year’s conference, entitled ‘The Past in the Present – The Making of Memories’ explored more topics that she had envisaged. “The talks not only focused on neurobiology, but covered topics such as immunology, evolution, and geology,” she says. “All ideas you could use in different aspects of biology”.

The array of talks spark many ideas, some of which she can apply directly to her lessons, and others that could later evolve into an innovative practical activity. “After the conference, I’ll revisit particular topics that caught my imagination. I can read the research papers or re-watch the talks when they are published online^w2. Then I can start thinking about how to incorporate these topics into my lessons.” Crucially, the talks are easily accessible for non-scientists, and Hendrika has even shown some to her students.  “There’s no other conference like it that I know of,” she says.

For Hendrika, the title ‘science and society’ has two meanings: “The conference is about meeting people from all over the world, both scientists and teachers,” she says. “It’s a chance to catch up with people you’ve met at previous conferences too.” The main reason that Hendrika attends these events, however, is to stay up to date with scientific advancements. “You won’t find any of this science in textbooks,” she says, stressing the importance of providing fresh examples to students.

Always looking ahead, the next lecture Hendrika is attending will be in her own classroom - she will live stream EMBL’s annual Insight Lecture on 2 December 2016^w3. You and your students can join in too, and see how conferences and the classroom can connect.