SEK 35.4 M / 2 YEARS
ALL CHILDREN DESERVE TO BE ABLE TO GO OUT INTO THE WORLD WITH A GOOD LEVEL OF SELF-CONFIDENCE AND A GOOD SELF-IMAGE Universeum describes how it is working to open doors that help people understand things. With its focus on applied mathematics, they hope both to create greater self-confidence among young people and contribute to knowledge that can solve many of society’s sustainability challenges. CEO Carina Halvord and Development Director Björn Edlund, tell us a bit about Universeum and its applied mathematics initiative. How did the idea come about? Carina: – Sweden is in the middle of the transition to a sustainable society, in line with the UN’s Agenda 2030 and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Many of the challenges this involves can be solved using mathe matics. Mathematics forms the basis of so much, and undoubtedly underlies the innovation and success of Swedish industry. But now several surveys show that many students enrolled in engineering programmes are unable to cope with their courses. One of the r easons is that their maths skills are not up to the job. It’s a problem that goes back to much earlier – sometimes right back to primary school. The idea for an applied mathematics initiative originated quite simply from a clear needs analysis. Some time ago, we created the ‘Love Chemistry’ initiative for more or less the same reasons. It was based on the fact that nine p ercent of the country’s 15-year-olds were not getting a pass grade in chemistry at school. Many felt scared or turned off by the very idea of chemistry. As Sweden’s national science centre and one of the 10 most visited experiences in Sweden, at U niverseum we have great opportunities to help resolve such problems. Of the nearly 600,000 people who explore Universeum every year, a full 70,000 are school students and teachers. Research shows that the best way to support school students is to support parents and teachers at the same time, and to offer complementary learning environments outside of school.
Björn: –Yes, and actually it’s not primarily about the fact that university students have problems. We b elieve in lifelong learning that starts early. Mathematics can alienate children already at a young age. You could see mathematics as a language – but one that is inde pendent of national borders. In that respect, it differs from other languages. What’s more, children who
“Research shows that the best way to support school students is to support parents and teachers at the same time.” for various reasons acquire an early aversion to the language of maths will also go through school with a low level of self-confidence. As a result, they never really do themselves justice – which leads to other choices in life that could actually have been avoided. The ‘Applied Mathematics’ initiative is an approach that hopes to bring about change by working on the root of the problem. How did you come to apply for a donation from the Erling-Persson Foundation? Carina: –Over the years we’ve learnt to run Uni verseum’s activities standing on our own two feet. When we start a major new initiative or take a new approach, however, we always need outside support, so we work systematically to look for such opportunities – including from private foundations. In this case we knew that the Erling-Persson Foundation had given great d onations in other contexts.
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