Short but impactful stay at Wartburg

Lorenz Kalis’ time at Wartburg was short — only one term — but his experiences were many and impactful.

Kalis, who was on the Wartburg campus for the Fall 2024 term as part of an exchange program with Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in Germany, studied education and worked closely with Dr. Michael Bechtel, associate professor of science education. In addition to classwork, Kalis had the opportunity to attend an online study day focused on “Internationalization of the Curriculum,” where he presented “Teaching and Living Sustainability: Preparing Science Teachers of Tomorrow.”

He also attended the Agriculture in the Classroom Learning Conference hosted by the Iowa Ag Literacy Foundation, where Bechtel presented on aquaponics, blatticomposting and animal husbandry.

“As my time at Wartburg served as a way of connecting education majors internationally, these were great opportunities to present Wartburg’s science education program to an international audience,” said Kalis. “As far as the Iowa AITC event goes, I attended that event because Dr. Bechtel encouraged us throughout the term to participate in conferences as a possibility to further our professional development. Another reason I attended was because agriculture is a such a big deal in the Midwest, I knew I had to go take a look.”

Lorenz Kalis

Wartburg’s partnership with Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenburg started several years ago and continues to be a beneficial opportunity for students to experience new cultures and for professors to make new connections.

“I attended the Study Day on Internationalization conference last year in person at Halle University, and I was able to make a connection with a professor from Austria using aquaponics in education,” said Bechtel, whose Ioponics system has garnered international attention.

Kalis had profound take-aways from the two conferences that he has taken back to Germany now that his term at Wartburg is over.

“These first-hand experiences helped me to look beyond the end of my own nose. I was given the opportunity to look at science education from a different angle. This will help me to improve my skills as a teacher but also provide me with great perspectives to talk about it with my family, friends, and future colleagues,” said Kalis. “I realized the overarching goal of science education is to prepare students for their lives rather than their jobs. Science surrounds every human being — the challenge is noticing that. Germany and the U.S. are facing similar demographic and democratic issues these days. Even though both countries have very different education systems, it takes international collaboration and continuous development of education to wrestle with the challenges of our modern age.”

Kalis encourages other students, especially those in science education, to not miss out on opportunities like this in the future.

“My time at Wartburg opened new ways of thinking for me. Events like the annual study day and the agriculture conference provided valuable contributions to my life. Hands-on, inquiry-oriented classrooms are not simply a nice feature to have, but an indispensable approach towards a progressive way of teaching that not only helps students to have great learning outcomes but also shows students that they are surrounded by science all the time,” said Kalis. “Science teachers need to spark fascination and enthusiasm in their students. This is how we can prepare children for the challenges of the 21st century.”