GETTING BASICS RIGHT
By Dr. Simon H. Hobbs, Senior Director, Honeywell India Technology Center
In November 2009, President Obama launched the ‘Educate to Innovate' initiative to move American students from the middle to the top of the pack in science and math achievement over the next decade. Few students possess the necessary math and science skills to compete for science, technology, engineering and math ( STEM) jobs in 21st century. When it comes to STEM areas of study, early access, exposure and understanding is crucial in helping students to build a successful career.
Honeywell Hometown Solutions ( HHS), the company’s corporate citizenship initiative, is focused on five areas of vital importance—Family Safety and Security, Housing amd Shelter; Science and Math Education, Humanitarian Relief and Habitat and Conservation. Under the HHS initiative,
One of our newest STEM programmes is Honeywell Initiative for Science and Engineering ( HISE). HISE focuses on in- spiring university students to pursue careers in science through a series of lectures hosted by Honeywell fellows and Nobel laureates, who share their experiences and views on the importance of practical engineering and its impact in the areas of research and development, new product development and value creation. Till date we have organised 10 Nobel laureate visits to partner institutions in India.
The school outreach initiative is another such programme where Honeywell partners government- funded schools to advance STEM education in India. The programme focuses on generating interest in science through early exposure of students to fundamentals of science by experiential learning. To make the learning experience more comprehensive, the programme is delivered through workshops, exhibitions and science lab kits, the content for which has been carefully designed to suit the academic curriculum.
The school outreach workshops, which have been developed to suit the academic curriculum, offer students a hands-on, collaborative and reflective learning experience through a series of experiments. This is supplemented with the science lab kit equipment which is used by the students and teachers to conduct these experiments. The format of the workshops is interactive, where students are invited to perform experiments, offer opinions, respond to questions and ask well-thought-out queries. This programme affords students an opportunity to work with some of Honeywell’s top technologists and engineers to learn more about potential careers.
Honeywell India Technology Center launched the pilot program through Government Model Sanskriti Sr. Secondary School, a Haryana government-funded school, to impact class IX students before they choose their subject streams. The initiative offers early exposure to fundamentals of science and technology . The program is delivered through specially designed workshops and equipment, to generate interest around science and have the students consider it as a career choice, thus inspiring the next generation of innovators.