Science & Technology (NWT)

Our country is known for its thought leadership in the natural sciences and for its innovative engineering.

Focus on natural sciences

The Josef-Schwarz-Schule feels responsible for laying the foundations for this. Therefore, the natural sciences are given a particularly high priority in our school. In order to enable the students to connect to the international world of studies, natural sciences are predominantly taught in English.

1. BNT and Robotics

This already begins in grade 5 with the BNT (Biology, Natural Science, Technology) subject group, which combines the scientific way of working with practical and project-oriented contents of technology. Since the natural sciences are taught in English, the students thus also directly acquire the foreign language skills that are becoming increasingly important in this global world. From grade 7, students have the opportunity to choose robotics as a club and, with the support of Experimenta, become part of the school's First Lego League team. From grade 7, the BNT subject group begins to split into the familiar subjects of Biology, Technology, Physics (grade 7) as well as Chemistry (grade 8) and NWT (profile subject in grade 8).

2. Science and Technology (NWT) as a profile subject

NWT is a newer mixed subject in which STEM content is linked in a practical and project-oriented way. This begins in grade 8 with the project "Energy Bar", in which the students first research the various contents of an energy bar and then put together their own bar. This is optimised step by step and then has to be convincing in a pitch like "Höhle der Löwen". In grade 9, the robotics focus cluster is further deepened with an Arduino project to control a wheeled robot, until finally in grade 10 we realise the construction and technical improvement of the blades of wind and water turbines using 3D printing.

3. Performance Subjects in the field of Natural Sciences

For the JSS College, the upper secondary school, the Josef Schwarz School aims to offer all three natural sciences as performance subjects.

In our future school building in Heilbronn, our students will therefore have six fully equipped school laboratories at their disposal. In addition, we have an experimental laboratory according to university standards. The latter is intended to enable our upper school students to conduct active research, including long-term experiments. The aim here is to bridge the gap between school and scientific work and to prepare our students for a career in the natural sciences.

4. Cooperations and Awards

In addition to the three main focuses, the outstanding equipment of our laboratories and the cooperation with the Experimenta form the core of our STEM concept, which is why we were awarded the STEM-friendly school certificate. We are one of the few schools that have both the "MINT-friendly school" and "digital school" certificates.