Teaching basic engineering and technology principles to pre-university students through a computerised laboratory

The highway to university studies in Slovenia leads through general secondary schools, which are named Gimnazija. Secondary school at Gimnazija study concludes with leaving examinations called Matura as an obligatory prerequisite to enter universities. The curriculum in Gimnazija is highly scholastic and is weakly related to engineering and technology topics. Computerised laboratories in physics, chemistry and biology lessons have been introduced as a so-called backdoor for connecting fragmented knowledge and teaching students about some of the basic principles needed to understand some of the engineering and technological processes in industry and scientific research.