Arbeitest du gerne im Team? Du bist kreativ, begeisterungsfähig, selbstständig und engagiert? Du möchtest mit Schüler*innen zusammenarbeiten und ihnen mathematische Modellierung näherbringen? Du hast Lust auf einen abwechslungsreichen Hiwi-Job?

Dann bist du bei uns genau an der richtigen Adresse! Wir führen eintägige und einwöchige Veranstaltungen mit Schülergruppen durch, in denen sie authentische Problemstellungen aus dem Alltag bearbeiten, indem sie ihr mathematisches Schulwissen verwenden. Deine Aufgabe wäre es mit uns zusammen eintägige Workshops zu betreuen und aktiv und engagiert im Team mitzuhelfen. Das bedeutet auch, dass Teile der Organisation von dir übernommen werden können und selbstverständlich auch eigene Ideen berücksichtigt und integriert werden.

Wenn du Interesse oder Fragen an uns hast, dann melde dich jetzt per Mail an: cammp∂scc.kit.edu

You can find a calendar with registered dates and events here.

The online CAMMPweek was again a great success! A total of 40 students worked for a week on 7 different exciting research questions. The 7 groups achieved amazing results and can be very proud of their work! 

Quote from a student who participated: "The week was characterized by finding solutions to a complex mathematical problem with a lot of fun, perseverance and teamwork. Despite the great distance, we could experience working together with people with whom we could grow together to a team within the CAMMP week, without knowing each other before. Especially for gaining new experiences, in the field of programming, mathematics, lecturing or writing a scientific report, the participation in the CAMMP week is highly recommended, without hesitation I would participate again. Especially towards the end of school, it is also helpful to be able to concretize one's personal wishes for the future with regard to study information."

Quote from a student who participated: "In summary, participating in the CAMMP week gives you a very good insight into real scientific work as well as studying itself and at the end you are also really proud of your real applicable solutions." 

How can you set up wind turbines so that you get the maximum energy?

Due to the Corona virus, the CAMMP week took place online and not, as usual, in a youth hostel where the students met for a week. The week started on a Sunday evening, when everyone gathered in a virtual conference room. While waiting, faces of other participants popped up here and there, but they quickly deactivated their video function again. Then the welcome meeting started with a short introduction about mathematical modeling and the presentation of the problems.

In order to get to know each other better afterwards, the supervisors thought of something new, since everything is done digitally: On a whiteboard, to which everyone had editing rights, everyone got their own circle. Now everyone had about ten minutes to draw things in the circle that they wanted to reveal about themselves. After the ten minutes, everyone was allowed to present their artwork and, if they had a camera, to show their face. To be honest, I was a little nervous as the supervisors approached my circle, since it's not very often that you introduce yourself in front of a bunch of black, emotionless boxes (with little names in the corner). After a few more games it had become quite late and so the first meeting ended.

The next day we came to the meeting room strengthened again, among other things because it always started at 9 a.m., and after a short greeting the distribution of the projects was already announced. In a team of four we were given the task of optimizing wind farms. In addition, there were other exciting problems about optimal solar cell alignments and the loading of large freight vehicles. After this meeting, everyone met in the meeting of their own group including supervisors. First of all, we had to understand the tasks and clear up any ambiguities. Then it was time for modeling.

The problem with wind farms is that the wind turbines influence each other through their wind shadow, so that sometimes the rear wind turbines get much less wind and therefore deliver less power. So the first thing to do is to find out what a wind shadow looks like. At 12:30 there was the lunch break, which ended with the break express. There, volunteers could recover from sitting for so long and could relax with yoga and the like. After a short announcement from the supervisors, the groups went back to their own meetings and ideas were diligently shared and worked on at the shared whiteboard.

The week went on like this, but it wasn't boring at all, because we were constantly discussing, listening, writing code, wondering why the code didn't work and staring into space. If you got stuck, the tutors were very helpful and could steer you in the right direction. In between there were also interesting lectures about studying at KIT or RWTH Aachen and also again virtual game rounds to get the head free again.

On Thursday, the tension increased a little bit, because now we had to prepare directly for the lectures, but the group was still very close to the goal. However, the rehearsal presentations went quite well, so there was really nothing to worry about.

On Friday, the last day, all participants, supervisors, etc. met again together in the big meeting room before going to the Zoom meeting where each group gave their presentation. Besides the students and supervisors, many parents, teachers and relatives came to listen to the virtual presentations. After each presentation, the problem solvers were also allowed to have their say, and they often praised the groups, but also gave tips for improvement.

On the whole, CAMMP week was a lot of fun, despite the long distances between the participants, and I can definitely recommend it.

A translation of the report by participant Erik Wu from the Kurfürst Friedrich-Gymnasium Heidelberg

From 27.09. to 02.10.2020, this year's CAMMP week took place, for the first time in online format. During this week, 25 students from grade 10 onwards from Baden-Württemberg and the Aachen city region worked in small teams on various questions. The questions were open problems posed by companies and institutes. The teams of students were supported in their work by scientific staff from KIT and RWTH Aachen University.

Using various digital communication tools (a platform with chat and video conferencing functions), a digital whiteboard, and an online programming environment, the students worked intensively on the problems and presented their super results to the company representatives and other interested guests at the end of the week.   

We are happy that the CAMMP week was also an exciting and profitable experience in virtual format, but still keep our fingers crossed that we can meet again in person next year.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the supervisors, problem solvers, sponsors and other supporters who made this CAMMP week possible. A special thanks goes to the students who worked so motivated on the problems!

Translated quotes from participating students:
"I learned how to work in a team, solve a problem independently, and present ideas to the group."
"I got an insight into mathematical research, which will help me in my career choice."
"The week was fun and broadened my horizons. Thank you!"

As a joint project between the CAMMP locations in Aachen at the RWTH and the KIT in Karlsruhe the CAMMP day workshops are now also available as Online CAMMP days.
These can be held on site at school or in self-study by the students. We also offer online CAMMP days for classes or courses via a conference tool.

All you need is a web browser. An installation of programs is not necessary.

Further information and a contact form for providing access data can be found on the cross-location website of the CAMMP project.

From October 17th to 26th Martin Bracke (TU Kaiserslautern), Maren Hattebuhr (KIT), Sarah Schönbrodt (KIT), Janna Tinnes (RWTH Aachen), and Kirsten Wohak (KIT) visited the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC) in Tijuana as representatives of the projects CAMMP (Computational And Mathematical Modeling Program) and KOMMS (Competence Center for Mathematical Modeling in MINT Projects in Schools). There, Mexican students gained insights into problem solving with the help of mathematical modeling in the form of several modeling days and a modeling week.

First of all, an introduction to the idea and goals of CAMMP and KOMMS was given to the local scientific assistants. With the beginning of the new week we started a series of successful one-day workshops and a modeling week with their support.

The approx. 160 students were consistently motivated, enthusiastic and interested. They also learned a lot of interesting facts from these new experiences and were able to improve their modeling skills. We, too, gained many instructive and exciting experiences while working with students from another culture.

A big thank you goes to the organizer Luis Ramon Siero Gonzalez (UABC) and Professor Martin Frank (SCC). It was a successful and very eventful time for us.

After the successful start at Jugend forscht in the regional competition Mannheim, Boyu and Christian astonished the jury from 27-29.03.2019 with their application-oriented and practical topic on casting-compatible design. They received two special prizes for their creative ideas. The state competition of Baden-Württemberg took place in the Schwabenlandhalle in Fellbach with a further 64 projects. The young researchers presented their projects and inspired the jury, an interested public and each other with their outstanding results. The focus was less on the idea of competition and more on marvelling at the research work. Unfortunately, it was not enough for our team of pupils to win the state prize in the field of mathematics/computer science. "We wouldn't have had a chance against the first place anyway. They really do great mathematics," Boyu and Christian praised the winning team. Behind the crass mathematics are algorithms for determining the minimum number of moves in the game "The Towers of Hanoi" under a fixed number of squares and discs, as well as approaches to prove the algorithms. From now on, our CAMMP researchers are directing their curiosity towards their studies, which they plan to start in October.

On February 26 and 27, two teams of students from the project Simulierte Welten at Jugend forscht answered questions from the jury and an interested public and presented the results of their intensive research work. The student teams had got to know the research topics at the CAMMP week in Voeren, Belgium, and returned to the schools enthusiastically after a week of hard work. "One has the feeling to do something meaningful with one's knowledge", Nils Rauscher described his commitment, which he continued together with Moritz Müller, as well as Boyu Wu and Christian Beitzinger in the scholarship of the project Simulierte Welten supervised by Maren Hattebuhr. Their creative ideas were praised and rewarded at Jugend forscht. In total, almost 100 students competed in seven different categories.

Design suitable for casting

For a long time now, a wide variety of products have been manufactured by casting. Liquid metal is poured into a mould and cooled down. Particularly in the case of moulds with large differences in wall thickness, cavities can arise which have a negative effect on the stability of the cast. In order to be able to detect such weak points automatically, Boyu Wu and Christian Beitzinger developed a process that shows the designer where the mould needs to be reworked before casting. For testing, the students received data of casting moulds from the company Magma in Aachen as well as a reference time, which Magma's currently used software needs for evaluation. The two students submitted their work in the category mathematics/computer science. Boyu and Christian were awarded first prize, donated by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, and are now allowed to participate in the Baden-Württemberg Youth Research State Competition. "Their idea is mathematically very clever. The project is practical and saves a lot of work when experimenting," said Professor Seiler, a member of the jury, praising the two students. We congratulate them on their victory and wish them every success in the next selection round.

Optimal loading strategy

Internet shopping is widespread. In Germany alone, 68% of private customers shop online. But also companies that are active in the wholesale and sanitary trade order products from wholesalers, who in turn commission forwarding agents to deliver the goods. To make delivery as efficient as possible, transport routes are optimised and individual customer orders are combined into tours. But do the goods even fit on a truck? Here, "fit" means not only that the products must not exceed the maximum permissible volume and weight, but also that they can be unloaded in the specified delivery sequence without having to move other goods to be delivered later. This problem is made more difficult by the fact that the products may not be stacked on top of each other at will. Until now, the trucks have simply been loaded in the opposite delivery sequence. It is not unusual to find that several vehicles are needed for the tours. Moritz Müller and Nils Rauscher came to the conclusion that this can be optimised. They wrote a program into which the data of the tours can be read and within a few seconds it is output whether the tour is possible and how the truck should be loaded in the best possible way. The efficiency was tested on the basis of real data provided by the company INFORM from Aachen. The two students convinced the jury with their creative approach and implementation. "This is a very important project, which can go straight into application," amazed a guest who got to know the two young researchers on the public day. For their work, Moritz and Nils were honoured with the 2nd prize in the field of the working world and were thus the best team in their field. The prize was donated by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. We congratulate them warmly!

Contact to the supervision of "Jugend forscht" projects: Maren Hattebuhr
Authors: Maren Hattebuhr, Marco Berghoff

On 11.07.2018 Gudrun Thäter has invited to report about the participation at the CAMMP week in Voeren, Belgium. Elly Bastian (student at Goethe Gymnasium Gaggenau), Christian Beitzinger (student at Tulla Gymnasium Rastatt), Kirsten Wohak (research associate at KIT, participating as teacher), and Maren Hattebuhr (research associate at KIT, participating as group supervisor and organizational representative of Karlsruhe) were interviewed. You can find the podcast here.

From 24-28.06.2018 Nils Rauscher (student at Tulla Gymnasium Rastatt) participated in the CAMMP week in Voeren, Belgium. Read here about his experiences.

"The CAMMP week: A week where interested students come together to solve a task set by companies using mathematical modeling. It has been taking place for some years now for young people from Aachen and the surrounding area from the 10th grade up to their Abitur. This year it took place for the first time for students from Karlsruhe, so that we, ten boys and girls from this region, were able to set off with our supervisors Maren Hattenbuhr and Kirsten Wohak for Voeren in Belgium on June 24. After a drive of about five hours we reached our destination, where gradually all 42 students, about 14 teachers and 7 supervisors gathered. The week started with a game to get to know each other. Teams of six had to build something in 15 minutes out of limited materials that would keep two eggs in the air as long as possible and allow them to land as safely as possible. During this game not only the ice between us students broke, but unfortunately also some egg shells. Afterwards Prof. Dr. Martin Frank explained to us what mathematical modeling actually is, using GPS. After this lecture we were even more excited about what would be our task for the week.

The next morning the seven tasks were presented by the respective supervisors. Then the group work began. The goal of each task was to write a code in MATLAB to solve the respective problem. The groups proceeded at different speeds. Setbacks were common and therefore the level of frustration was sometimes relatively high. But what united all groups was the ambition to solve the task at hand. This was reflected in the fact that work was often carried out beyond the time set in the plan and the sentence "How - there is already food?" was not uncommon. On Wednesday, a lecture on studying at the RWTH Aachen University was held to show the students the wide range of offers at this university. Afterwards there was a soccer tournament, where the level was partly higher than the one we had to watch afterwards in the game Germany vs. South Korea. The sobering course of the match made some of them prefer to continue working on their projects, because in the evening they had to visit some of the students who wanted to follow the progress of their task. With new impulses and encouragement from this meeting we continued the next day with the fight against our tasks. Slowly nervousness started to appear, because until the afternoon we had to prepare our presentations, which were to be held the next day in front of parents, commissioning parties and classmates, for a rehearsal talk and to finish the report about our task. However, we were sometimes far from finished with our codes. This deadline was only partially met by many groups, so that the report, the codes and the lecture were sometimes worked on until late in the morning.

The next morning was unfortunately already the last one in Voeren. The bus to Aachen started at 9:30 am and after a 45-minute drive, during which we excitedly went through our own parts of the presentation, we arrived in Aachen at the Sparkassen-Forum. At 11:15 a.m. the presentations of the individual groups began, where the solutions were presented and the task formers thanked the students for the hard work on their problem. After four hours of interesting lectures, the rich buffet was plundered and the farewell was on the agenda. It was very difficult for us, because the atmosphere was great and many new friendships were made. But we were also happy to make up for the missing sleep on the drive home.

The conclusion of this week was extremely positive. During the week, each group managed to find a solution to a problem that often seemed unsolvable in the beginning by minimizing unnecessary waste of time, for example by sleeping.

Many thanks to the responsible organizers at the RWTH Aachen and KIT for making this great week possible! We are looking forward to participate again next year".

by Nils Rauscher

Experiences with "CAMMP day" on the topic: "How does Google actually work and what does it have to do with math" of the Tulla-Gymnasium in Rastatt in June 2018.

At the end of the school year 2017/18, after the written Abitur exams, the Tulla-Gymnasium Rastatt participated with the entire class level in the "CAMMP day" of KIT on the topic: "How does Google actually work and what does it have to do with math?
In the Google module the students had the opportunity to discover the secret of the most used search engine worldwide. The module was prepared in a very appealing and comprehensible way so that all students - no matter whether they were rather less interested in mathematics or more interested in mathematics - were able to explore the topic step by step. In teams of 2-3 students, simple MATLAB programs (starting from any page) were used to search the Internet and create a ranking of the pages found. Through didactically very well instructed experiments with small networks, the students were then able to explore the underlying mathematical theory step by step. Due to the problem-oriented approach, the students got to know new mathematical concepts in a playful way.
The relevance of the application was certainly also important. In the past, at "Leistungskurs" times, matrix multiplication was a topic in the curriculum. This module would have been a great offer in this context as well. But today it seems even more important to show the students a real application reference - especially if it has something to do with their everyday life.
An important aspect is certainly not least that the networking of different contents from the fields of stochastics, linear algebra and analysis was the focus of this workshop.
Therefore: We will definitely come again next year!

The Tulla Team

On 19.04.2018 Kirsten Wohak spoke with Gudrun Thäter about the background of the CAMMP days. You can find the podcast here.