Digging into the world of plastics

Working together with The Danish Plastic Federation and the Chemistry and Physics Teachers’ Association, Bayer Norden wished to make the “Explore the World of Plastics” an initiative which granted students a deep background knowledge of plastic and the many applications of the material. Bayer Norden sponsored the contest’s first prize - a trip to Bayer’s headquarters in Germany with a visit to the multimedia visitors’ center BayKomm and to the student laboratory Baylab Plastics.

Plastic project for 2250 students
A total of 90 school classes, corresponding to 2250 students, signed up for “Explore the World of Plastics” competition. To enter the competition, the students had to go through an interdisciplinary project with plastic as a theme in their respective classes. As part of the project the students performed tests within the physics and chemistry subjects so that they would learn about the characteristics of different plastic materials.

Højstrup School most creative
Competition entries were reviewed by a jury who looked for the most intelligent and creative project solution. A number of classes were chosen for the grand finale and the science class from the Højstrup School was announced a winner and awarded with a successful trip to Bayer’s headquarters and Baylab Plastics in Germany. The students also visited the home turf of Bayer 04 Leverkusen, BayArena, where they enjoyed the big buffet at restaurant Calcio.

Building on to a successful concept
In the plastics laboratory the students engaged in the production of a plastic product from idea to finished product. This concept has previously been a great success for particular three second level high school classes at Marie Kruse School in Farum (Zeeland, Denmark) and a delegation from the Chemistry and Physics Teachers’ Association, who all returned home with lots of inspiration and newfound knowledge of plastics. The Højstrup School science class agreed: Plastic is fantastic!