Siemens starts them young

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23 July 2008 News

As part of an ongoing educational support programme for under-resourced schools and in a bid to encourage child-friendly access to science and technology at primary level, Siemens Southern Africa has donated nine 'Discovery' boxes to two Tembisa primary schools, both of which act as feeder schools for Ingqayizivele High School, the Siemens partner school selected as part of the multinational's Generation 21 educational programme.

Emily Molefe, Corporate Social Responsibility manager at Siemens Southern Africa, says the 'Discovery' boxes will allow the children from Isekelo and Sedibeng primary schools to have fun finding out all about a variety of exciting everyday phenomena as the experiment kits have all the equipment for exploring water, air, colour, sound and electricity.

"This is not textbook learning, but rather a practical and fun way of giving children their first experience of scientific and technical phenomena, which even the very small already find highly interesting," she says. "The child-friendly, fun experiments in the Discovery boxes make science real and are thus an important element of early childhood education."

Molefe says that as a knowledge-based company, Siemens aims to encourage the next generation to investigate the world around them, starting at a young age. "In this way we are fulfilling our social responsibility, as education is an important prerequisite for the cohesion and development of society," she adds.

Specially developed in Germany for international countries, the Discovery boxes are part of a complete educational concept that includes experiment sets on 'Energy and Electricity' and 'Environment and Health' as well as a DVD with instructions for teachers.

"Early science education by means of experiment kits is an important part of Siemens' Generation 21 worldwide education programme for preschools, schools and universities where the company is currently successfully promoting educational activities in over 50 countries," says Molefe. "The aim of the company-wide global commitment is to interest young people in science and technology and meet our responsibilities as a good corporate citizen."

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