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Siemens has provided about 3,000 “discovery boxes” filled with science experiments for kindergarten students in Germany targeted to children aged three to six. Each box costs 500 (US$775) to the company. It also trains teachers on how to use them as well as providing similar boxes around the world to preschools from China to Ireland. The Discovery Box The Discovery Box promotes the spirit of research among children at an early age through mini-laboratories for future scientists to familiarise themselves with tools of the trade. With the assistance of luminous bulbs, crystals, food dyes, test tubes and other scientific (yet safe) equipment, Discovery Boxes contain 45 experiments that are targeted to hook children in environmental, health and energy issues affecting the real world today. “Tell me something and I will forget it− Show it to me and and I will remember it. Let me do it and I will retain it.’ goes the Confucian saying,” quotes Michael O’Connor, Corporate Communications for Siemens Ireland, where the originally German concept has since been implemented. “Currently children do not necessarily make the connection between what they learn in school and the magical role and application of science and technology in our day to day lives. We need to change our approach to teaching science and technology and make it more fun. If not we will run out of graduates and this will impact on our future economy,” he adds. simple experiments a) Creating Light − featuring an Electric Circuit, using a battery, wire and light bulbs, the children learn how to make electricity flow and power light.
December 2012
b) Creating Heat − using steel wool, needles, wood and batteries, the children learn to create heat in a dramatic experiment that causes the steel wool to glow. c) The Paper Clip Race − featuring test tubes with different colourful liquids the children test the viscosity of the liquids by simply dropping the paper clips into the test tubes. Kindergarten apprentices A total of 70 companies, including Bosch, BASF, Trumpf, Voith, Fischer and more, have come together in support of reaching out to the younger generation through the “Knowledge Factory.” One of the most popular projects in the Knowledge Factory involves engaging kindergarteners with KiTec tool boxes. KiTec stands for “Kinder entdecken Technik” (children discovering technology), and contain glue, wood, screws, wire, saws, and files. “Imagine you are on a desert island and have to build a house or a bridge,”
the instructor announces, engaging the children with a focused task. Before the children can get started with any kind of designing, inventing, or building, they are all shown how to use the tools and are given a “tool license” to prove they know what they are doing and to ensure safety, much like in the real world. In small groups, the children are given tasks from structural engineering to automotive technology and electrical engineering. This gives children a fun learning environment where they are able to work individually and part of a team meanwhile discovering what technology