Johannesburg, 23 Aug 2012
In a bid to cultivate interest in maths and science subjects in SA, computing giant IBM has initiated TryScience, an online museum targeted at eight- to 16-year-olds.
According to IBM, TryScience offers exciting, interactive exhibits, multimedia adventures, live cameras and 'field trips' from over 700 science and technology centres around the world. It also includes extensive teacher and parent resources.
IBM says, with this initiative, it is continuing to champion innovative approaches to teaching and learning maths and science, as well as technology and engineering - referred to collectively as STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).
Sydney Hadebe, corporate citizenship and corporate affairs manager at IBM SA, said TryScience is a site that provides free and engaging lessons, along with teaching strategies and resources.
“In all our programmes for young people, we're focused on creating opportunities where few may exist. The STEM disciplines help prepare students to help solve some of the world's most deeply entrenched problems. If we're going to tackle some of the most important issues of our world, we need to prepare the next generation of innovators.”
Over the past 10 years, Hadebe revealed, growth in STEM jobs was three times faster than non-STEM jobs. He also believes that 60% of new jobs in the 21st century will fall into the STEM professions and require skills possessed by only 20% of the current workforce.
“Our country needs to at least quadruple the number of senior researchers, invest millions in science performing institutions, and support schools to produce excellent students in mathematics and science subjects. All these reports and statistics underscore one thing - science has a key role to play in economic and social development.”
Led by the Department of Science and Technology, IBM had installed TryScience kiosks in seven science museums and centres across SA. These include MTN's Cape Town Science Centre, Unizul Science Centre, Sci Bono Johannesburg, Durban Science Centre, Pretoria Science Centre, Museum Africa, and the Mondi Science Centre, in Mpumalanga.
“Children get excited about science when it's presented in a fun, entertaining format. TryScience is the collective knowledge of thousands of science experts in subjects ranging from archeology to zoology, and is presented in a way that ignites the imagination of children.
“What's more, the site features collaboration tools to enable teachers to discuss and share effective instructional practices. Our focus through TryScience is to support teacher instruction in engineering and design.”
Hadebe also pointed out that engineering as a focus makes sense for IBM. “We have some of the smartest engineers on the planet. But more importantly, engineering gives us a way to enable teachers to teach students broader science and math concepts.
“Specifically, we're doing this by supporting teachers' ability to do project-based learning. Project-based learning is an instructional strategy in which students explore real-world problems and challenges hands-on.”
According to Hadebe, research has shown that project-based learning can raise student achievement by helping students understand, apply and retain knowledge, and build critical thinking, communication and collaboration skills.
Hadebe believes SA has significant systemic challenges and the universities are battling to produce sufficient numbers of graduates with the right level of technical skills to enable, grow and competitively position businesses in the African markets.
“South Africa's Department of Home Affairs, for instance, has issued a detailed list of open technical jobs in the nation. This list points to a need for nearly 3 000 software and application programmers, nearly 3 000 project and other managers, and 1 600 information and communications technology support technicians.”
Share