The Schülerforschungszentrum (Student Research Centre) at the University of Applied Sciences Nordhausen (SFZ) is part of the MINT-Regionen Thüringen (Thuringian STEM Regions) initiative – a project by the Thuringian Foundation for Technology, Innovation, and Research (STIFT), supported by the Thuringian Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture. The program fosters regional STEM networks to promote science education in schools and beyond.

Since joining the SFZ, I have expanded this commitment to include geoscience topics by launching various geo-educational activities and establishing new collaborations. Northern Thuringia's landscape, economy, and cultural history are deeply shaped by salt and gypsum mining, making these materials a natural starting point for our outreach.

In November 2024, in collaboration with K-UTEC Salt Technologies AG and the National GeoPark Kyffhäuser, I led a full-day project—repeated three times—for the three fourth-grade classes (65 pupils) at Franzberg Primary School in Sondershausen. The program included crystal-growing experiments and activities highlighting the local geological and economic significance of salt.

To engage our 9–10-year-old audience, I created a plush toy in the form of a personified halite crystal, named Hali, which became the project’s narrative centrepiece. Follow-up evaluations five months later confirmed that personification is a highly effective didactic method in geoscience education, enhancing understanding and enthusiasm among young learners. Thanks to the positive response, the project will be replicated in Autumn 2025.

The Hali’s project is still at the very beginning and will not end with Hali: Additional mineralogical figures and their histories are being designed. Stay tuned!

In a fast-paced world overflowing with news, with brutal competition for being first, it is a challenge to get one's own messages heard. Simple language, e.g. "mountain building" instead of "orogeny", is not enough.

The question of how (geo)science should be communicated has a clear answer: on a human level! The messenger is a human being with flesh and bones, senses and emotions. The listener also is a human being. This opens up numerous options to convey scientific discoveries. The 6 Ws (Who, When, What, Where, How and Why) are helpful, but not sufficient.

To communicate scientific findings, emotional "detours" are often the best pathway into the minds and hearts of listeners. It's not just new knowledge that fascinates; rather, the underlying conditions, seemingly unimportant circumstances, are also of interest: How did it happen? What was the weather like? How was the food?

A successful example is the book "Abenteuer Wissenschaft" (Böhlau 2020), where human needs and feelings are at the center of the book. How do geologists and geographers fare in the mountains of Afghanistan or in the Karakorum? How did the men on the frigate Novara experience and survive a typhoon in the ocean on Emperor Franz Joseph's birthday on August 18, 1858?

The BLOG Wissenschaftsgeschichte(n) (www.derstandard.at) brings together more than 60 articles on various aspects of the (geo)sciences. Unexpected interdisciplinary connections, or seemingly marginal, previously unnoticed detail on human fates characterize these thoroughly researched articles. It is this human-centered approach that attracts a wide community of readers.

The YouTube channel “Lehrvideos System Erde” (Educational videos on the Earth System) went online in April 2024. It provides educational videos about the Earth system. The videos are currently available in English and German. Spanish as a third language will be added soon. The series is under construction, with 20 videos completed so far. The length of the videos is between 6 and 15 minutes. Thematically, they cover the basics of geodynamics. More videos will be added soon. All videos are provided together with a website with the same content, where all descriptions and images or animations used in the videos are available for free download. The website is available through the German Geological Society (DGGV, German version https://www.dggv.de/das-system-erde/themen-zum-system-erde/, English version https://www.dggv.de/en/the-earth-system/themes-system-earth/) with links given below each video on the Youtube channel.

The videos are aimed specifically at teachers in schools, but also at students, at universities, and interested laypeople. Tests in school education settings by individual teachers have revealed that they are a useful and welcome aid for teachers in their classrooms. After one year, the YouTube channel has meanwhile 230 subscribers and more than 10.000 views. The website associated with the YouTube channel had more than 15,000 visitors. I hope that the interest in the channel and website will grow further and I would be happy if the information about this channel would be distributed.