Bangkok--23 Nov--Sugar Smart PR
Seagate Technology (Thailand) Limited partners with the National Science Museum (NSM) in launching "The 2nd Year of Science and Technology Education Development Project by NSM and Seagate Thailand". This project consists of two main activities, -"Science Studies for Underprivileged Children at NSM" and the "Science & STEM Cultural Camps". The partnership aims at developing the Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) learning of young children through hands-on experiences and inspiring them to further their education in the field of STEM. Both NSM and Seagate hope to create an eye-opening experience for young children and enhance their thinking processes with the museums' contents and sharing of Seagate Thailand employees.
The "Science Studies for Underprivileged Children at NSM" offers opportunity for more than 2,200 students from under budget schools across Thailand to gain new knowledge and experiences from the extracurricular learning and hands-on experience. These young children will learn from exhibits at NSM Khlong 5, Pathumthani province in the Science Museum, Natural History Museum and IT Museum.
The "Science Cultural and STEM Camp" consists of 4 different and interesting camps. They are:-
"Robot Maker Camp" is designed to teach young children about robots development processes and challenging their skills to create robots using sensors control programs. Each group of campers is required to build their robots displaying their ideas and creativities for the final event contest. This camp will be offered to 40 participants currently in Pathom 5 – Mathayom 1 on December 10-12 this year.
"IT Career Camp" welcomes 60 participants currently in Mathayom 1-3. These young children will learn about various IT-based careers via numerous types of activities. The sessions are aimed to pique the interest of participants in IT and influence them to make IT their career field of choice . The camp will be hosted on November 5-6 this year.
"Fun Thought with STEM+" is a two-days, one-night camp that helps campers understand more about STEM. This camp is will be offered to 60 children in Mathayom 1-3 on November 19-20 this year.
"Smart Math Camp" is a two-days, one-night camp for 60 young children currently studying in Pathom 4-6. At the camp, young campers will experience fun Maths classes and learn how to adapt this new found knowledge in their life. This camp will be held on November 26-27, 2016.
Assoc. Prof. Soranit Siltharm, M.D., Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Science and Technology congratulated with the cooperation among NSM and Seagate by saying, "I really appreciate strong cooperation among NSM and Seagate in offering the science and technological skills development project for young children for two consecutive years. Currently, Thailand is undergoing major economic reform. From the country which was primarily driven by the low labor cost to a "High Income Country" driven by innovation. Therefore, science and technology will be the major tools for enhancing people' quality of lives and moving towards the Thailand 4.0 Economic Model policy initiated by the Thai government."
Mrs. Kannikar Wongthongsiri, Vice President/Acting President of National Science Museum said, "The Thai government strongly recognizes the importance of STEM education because it is the integration of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics that bring the solution for problems and create innovation. As one of the state organization under the supervision of the Ministry of Science and Technology, we have complied with the ministry policies in supporting STEM education. This partnership project with Seagate is another project that supports the government policies by inspiring the young people to focus on STEM especially during their tertiary education. It will also increase their competitiveness in the world arena."
This partnership project between NSM and Seagate is in its second year after the successful execution of its maiden project last year. This year, Seagate sponsorship to NSM is at 1.49 million Baht. Last year, the main area of focus was at young children in Pathumthani province. This year, they are aimed to reach a larger number of students in rural areas, from schools near Seagate Korat plant and especially those who have never participated in any science camps before. Besides that the robots camps have also doubled and each of these camps will be based on different concepts.
Mr. Norachet Saetang, Teparuk Plant Manager, Seagate Technology (Thailand) Limited said, "Those whose careers are in the field of STEM plays major roles for Thailand development, particularly as we are one of the members of the Asean Economic Community (AEC). Demand for STEM-based careers and positions in the job market are on the rise for a few years now. And there're a lot of career advancement opportunities in the long run. We hope that young children who take part in this project will be the future STEM workforce that supports the Thai economic growth in the future."