German Geoscience Olympiad – Correlation between curricula and results

The umbrella organisation for the geosciences DVGeo has been organising the German Geoscience Olympiad for school pupils since 2023.

This nationwide competition builds on school knowledge from geography as well as chemistry, physics and biology and provides deeper insights into the geosciences. Students from year 9 to Q1 (qualification year 1 for the Abitur) can take part, i.e. up to and including year 11 for G8 and year 12 for G9. The German Geosciences Olympiad was conceived by representatives of the DVGeo's supporting organisations from the fields of geology, geophysics, palaeontology and mineralogy.

The German Earth Science Olympiad is also the national selection competition for the established International Earth Science Olympiad (IESO), which will take place in China in 2024 and 2025. Participants have to demonstrate their knowledge of geology, mineralogy, geophysics and geochemistry in an online test. In the second round, they also completed practical tasks, including rock speeches.

The aim of the competition is to arouse pupils' interest in the geosciences and to make teachers aware of the geoscientific content of current topics. To this end, it uses the name of an Olympiad, which is commonly used in Germany for science competitions (see also Maths Olympiad). The tasks are predominantly competence-orientated.

The results achieved show a clear connection between the geoscientific content anchored in the curricula of the federal states and the results of the Olympiad.