By UBC
On May 24th the UBC-Team visited the middle school in Asparn an der Zaya to give the school students, which support our project, a proper introduction into soil sampling and the use of isotopes.
Markus Puschenreiter and Olivier Duboc from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna (BOKU – IBF Tulln) demonstrated on the meadow in front of the school the sampling of soil and the documentation of soil samples. The students dug suitable sampling holes into the ground to take soil samples from different layers of the soil profile. The documentation of the sampling location with coordinates and the description of all relevant parameters was done together with the students, to train them for their own sampling campaign. During June, each school student will self-responsibly extract a soil sample in the region. Their samples and the corresponding documentation are important for the outcome of the project.
Furthermore, Thomas Prohaska, Johanna Irrgeher, and Michael Schober from the Montanuniversität Leoben (MUL) illustrated to the school students the concept of tracing with strontium isotope analysis. On three stations, the school students learned fundamental information about teeth, isotopes, and mass spectrometry. To convey the subject matter in an easier way, the students had the opportunity to touch teeth themselves, to explore the difference between isotopes by using game cards and weighted playing balls, and to separate and count different metal balls by handling a mass spectrometer made of wood and magnets.
The UBC-Team wants to thank all students for their huge interest and their lively participation at the workshop as well as the school headmaster Johann Keintzel and his team for the warm welcome and organization of this event.
