Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS Teaching Simulations and High Performance Computing at Secondary Schools in the German State of Baden-Wu ̈ rttemberg Jörg Hilpert, M.A. (ZIRIUS) Dr. Rüdger Berlich (Gemfony scientific) With: Peter Lürßen (Bismarck-Gymnasium, Karlsruhe), Dr. Almut Zwölfer and Jochen Barwind (Schelztor-Gymnasium, Esslingen a. N.) EduPar-15 29th IEEE International Parallel & Distributed Processing Symposium May 25, 2015

Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS Baden-Württemberg -in the southwest of Germany -Home of many big companies Context / Location

Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS Why to we want to teach the topic “simulations”?

Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS Background information: Simulations Simulations help us to … … understand, develop and improve theories, physical designs or processes in ways that are inaccessible to us without them, … to make prediction of the behavior of subjects under changing conditions and … to make experiments more cost-efficient because there is no direct interaction (e.g. crash-tests).

Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS Background information: Simulations But… there are also risks of simulations Complexity –Some aspects of reality are mapped almost perfectly, lesser- known aspects only approximately –The interpretation of the results of simulations may not always be clear

Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS Background information: Simulations But… there are also risks of simulations Complexity Subjectivity –Only a part of the reality can be mapped –Man decides what is “important” or should be included in the model / simulation

Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS Background information: Simulations But… there are also risks of simulations Complexity Subjectivity Verifiability –Long-term predictions hardly verifiable –It is possible to simulate aspects that are unobservable –Practical tests may be uneconomical

Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS Background information: Simulations But… there are also risks of simulations Complexity Subjectivity Verifiability Continuity –The complexity of the simulated processes makes it difficult for their followers to use the simulation correctly

Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS Background information: Simulations Simulations provide us with tremendous opportunities, may involve significant risks and affect many parts of daily life.  Gap between the importance of these technologies and their public recognition.  Topic of simulations is wide and deep: There is an almost endless variety of simulations, and many simulations are complex and not easy to understand even to experts. Source: Copyright © RiskNET GmbH,

Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS “Simulated Worlds” – Mission statement

Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS “Simulated Worlds” – mission statement „Simulated Worlds“ relays information and material referring to Simulations and High Performance Computing to students in the German State of Baden-Württemberg in order to narrow the gap between visibility and significance of these technologies in modern society. We want to help students at Secondary Schools to understand the opportunities and risks of simulations, and to help them to accept that the investments into HPC are not only justified, but necessary.

Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS The knowledge mountain

Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS The knowledge mountain Three levels of knowledge transfer with varying degrees of complexity on which the students are addressed.

Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS The knowledge mountain Level of “Basic knowledge” shows the almost endless variety of simulations give the audience an idea how far simulations already affect their everyday lives.

Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS The knowledge mountain Level of “Learning by example” aimed at students from the 9th and 10th grade in high schools (age 15 and above), where it becomes possible to relay simple programming skills deeper insight into simulations

Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS The knowledge mountain Level of “Detailed knowledge” Selected students get a deeper methodological knowledge (e.g. student assistants or scholarship with their own little project at the HPC centers) Trainings for teachers to relay theoretical, didactic and practical content that was developed

Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS The knowledge mountain - two examples: Simulation game & science study group

Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS The knowledge mountain – Simulation game “Energetika” ( was developed in the year 2010 by various scientific institutions. Goal of the game: supply the fictive country of “Energetika” with 40 years of electricity. Players slip into the role of an energy manager to find a suitable strategy for an “energy mix”. Players learn to appreciate the difficulties involved in creating computer-based simulations of this type. Available for free & low requirements

Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS The knowledge mountain – Science study group Science study group is voluntary The students look for a topic (related to simulations) in which they are interested They familiarize themselves with this topic They search for an expert from this field and prepare questions around this topic Then they invite the expert for a public question and answer session (“science café). The “science café” and “social program” is prepared by the students

Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS Results

Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS Results Team learned a lot about how to work with schools and how to teach simulations to students  experiences were integrated into the ongoing activities But: help of teachers / HPC Ambassadors needed! Programming is no a big part of the curriculum of secondary schools in the state of Baden-Württemberg. With the help of Scratch we were able to introduce students to programming and at the same time to simulations. The science study group and the seminar course are very popular. organizing teamwork moderate Communicate with experts present Knowledge about simulations

Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS Conclusion

Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS Conclusion The topic of simulations has many very diverse aspects that are relevant to society.  includes opportunities and risks Students had been very interested in the topic of simulations Team developed a complete teaching unit with examples of simulations It is indeed possible to relay the inherently complex topic of simulations to students at secondary schools, and that students are very interested in simulations.

Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS Thank you very much for your attention! Learn more about our project at or on our Facebook page at

Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies ZIRIUS Partners & acknowledgment Partners Ministry of Science, Research and Art Baden-Württemberg (MWK) Steinbuch Centre for Computing (SCC) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) University of Stuttgart –High Performance Computing Centre Stuttgart (HLRS) –Stuttgart Research Center on Interdisciplinary Risk and Innovation Studies (ZIRIUS) Two “high schools” in Baden-Württemberg – –