"Before I came here, I thought I wanted to be an interpreter. But this also sounds exciting. Especially the fact that you have to work and program with a computer. I would like to get an internship here. ”

Nynne Hagen has visited Lykkegaard A / S with her 6th grade from the local school in Rolfsted. The 16 students and teachers Allan Meldgaard have spent a whole school day at the factory as part of the "Business Backpack", which is a collaboration between schools and companies in Faaborg-Midtfyn Municipality. Here, students from 4th - 9th grade visit companies in the local area. They are shown around, hear about the company and get an impression of which working tasks are performed in this company.

What differs from a "classic" company visit is, that the students also work with their own tasks during the day. In this case, teacher Allan Melgaard, in collaboration with business owner Karsten Lykkegaard, has prepared some math problems about meassurements and volume, that the students solve while they are at the company.

Reality math is more fun

Among other things, the students have measured the height, length and width of the large warehouse so that they can calculate the volume of the building. In addition, they have also measured and calculated the area and volume of various boxes and cylinders.

This makes great sense to Nynne Hagen:

“The warehouse was cool. There were so many things in there in different sizes. I had no idea they would need so many different things in a warehouse. And it was fun to find the volume of the building - much more fun to go here and measure up and have to calculate something from reality instead of a task, "she says.

Cake, question and learning

Starting in the morning, the students were seated in one of the large halls with traditional pastry, "brunsviger"  and soda. That serving is certainly not part of everyday life, Jonas Jensen from the class noted.

"It has been  a really good visit. More exciting than sitting at home in class - and it was really nice that we got pastry and soda, "he says and completely agrees with Nynne Hagen that it is fun to measure with long measuring tapes in the large rooms.

The students' mathematics teacher Allan Meldgaard also appreciates the collaboration with the company:

“It is an exciting way to work. We all learn something. Here at Lykkegaard, we can measure and work with things that I can not give them in a classroom setting. To me it is exciting to see, how the students work and collaborate now that we are out of the classroom. Some are clearly best at solving a task on paper, while others benefit here where can feel things and work in a real life setting. I also see that some students get very tired of all the impressions. It is great to be out of the safe environment and I am sure that everyone has benefited a lot from being here today, ”he says.

Important for the professions and the future

Karsten Lykkegaard, who owns Lykkegaard A / S, has spent the whole day with the students, partly telling about the company, partly showing them how to use mathematics when working as an industrial technician. He does this, because he finds it an important social duty to invite children in and teach them how working life is "in reality".

“We all have a responsibility to educate children and young people. We will need skilled industrial technicians in the future, so it is necessary to plant a knowledge and interest  in some of the students, so that they think of industrial technicians or other craft-profession when they'll choose their path. I believe that they can make a more qualified choice when we as companies invite them in, so they get an impression of what it is like to work as a craftsman, ”says Karsten Lykkegaard and concludes:

"And I honestly think it is both fun and entertaining to be with the students, talk to them and hear their questions."