Support for high-school matriculation projects

Practical matriculation projects are becoming increasingly popular. Therefore, PSI drew up a concept in 2008 to ensure that the projects undertaken with the help of the Institute received the maximum level of support from expert advisers. The concept envisages support for up to three matriculation projects per year at the Institute. Interested students must submit a plan of work in competition with proposals submitted by other students. PSI researchers select the three proposals best suited to implementation at the Institute, and an expert is provided by PSI for each selected project. This expert then uses his or her specialist expertise to set the project out in concrete terms, to suggest suitable literature and to help with any problems that may arise. A pilot project in 2008 involved the construction of an electron-scan microscope by students from the Cantonal High-School at Wettingen.