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Gothic Architecture
Pointed Arch, Ribbed Vault and Buttress
At the beginning of the 12th century, a new building style suddenly appeared in France and revolutionised the dark Middle Ages – the Gothic style. Instead of the massive, dark and fortified structures of the Romanesque period, the building style of the Early Middle Ages, everywhere in Europe the masterpieces of this new filigree architecture, the cathedrals, appeared within a short period. They were higher and larger than everything that had been built so far and yet appeared to be of a mystic lightness. Their walls seemed to be dissolved in a sea of light and colour. For about 300 years the cathedrals dominated the cities in Europe and their appearance fascinates still today. But how was this sudden change of style at all possible? Where did the ideas for the new buildings come from? And what was the importance of the Gothic style for the people back then? All architects face the problem of how to support the weight of a building with roof and masonry. The Romanesque builders erected thick walls with few windows, which solidly carried the church roof. However, if you wanted to build higher churches, the walls collapsed under their own weight and the weight of the roof. The architects of the Gothic era hit upon the idea of distributing the weight of the roof and walls onto buttresses outside the edifice. As the walls did not have to support so much weight anymore, they could be pierced with larger windows thus allowing more light to flood into the interior.
Play trailerCurriculum-centred and oriented towards educational standards
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Ceramic
Ceramics are indispensable in our everyday lives. We eat from ceramic plates, drink from ceramic cups, use tiled ceramic bathrooms. But how is ceramic manufactured? The film reveals the secrets of this fascinating material! We get to know more about the beginnings of ceramic in the Old World of Egypt and Mesopotamia, about Greece, China and Rome. We gain interesting insights into the valuable earthenware and are also shown the exquisite further development of the "white gold". Today this versatile material is irreplaceable in industry, too. Whether in space or as an easily compatible substitute in medicine, ceramic is applied in many places.
Peer Mediation
Lena and Max attend the 7th form. Max is new in class. During a break, Max notices that Lena and her friend are laughing at him again. Max loses his temper! He slaps Lena in the face. That hurts and Lena runs back into the classroom with a red cheek. The growing conflict between the two has escalated. Just like Lena and Max, every day pupils all over Germany have rows with each other. At the Heinrich Hertz Gymnasium in Thuringia, pupils have been trained as mediators for years. At set hours, they are in a room made available by the school specifically for mediation purposes. The film describes the growing conflict between Max and Lena and shows a mediation using their example. In doing so, the terms “conflict” and “peer mediation” are explained in a non-technical way. The aims of peer mediation and its progress in five steps as well as the mediators’ tasks are illustrated. The art of asking questions and “mirroring”, which the mediators must know, is described and explained. Together with the comprehensive accompanying material, the DVD is a suitable medium to introduce peer mediation at your school, too.