The March school holidays provided an opportunity for some of our child beneficiaries from Student Care @ Children’s Society to become little scientists and coders, thanks to Science Centre Singapore and Junior Achievement Singapore.
On 16 March, the centre was transformed into a learning lab for the child beneficiaries of Student Care @ Children’s Society. Armed with complimentary science kits, they conducted four experiments about air and wind. One experiment saw them building balloon parachutes, which they then headed outdoors to fly.
It was a positively uplifting experience for little Shakira, 11, who said: “I now know how powerful the wind is, and how some countries even use wind as their power source!”
The children could take home their science kits, which had other experiments they could try at home. They also received complimentary tickets to visit the Science Centre Singapore.
Our Primary Five and Six beneficiaries were also given the opportunity to try their hand at coding during three three-hour sessions on 15, 18 and 19 March. The course was organised by Junior Achievement Singapore, a non-profit organisation dedicated to inspiring and preparing young people to succeed in the global economy.
For Karis, 11, it was a chance to learn to apply basic programming languages like CoBlocks.
“I enjoyed creating my own racing tracks and later my favourite cars,” he said.
The children also learned about design thinking, and how to combine that with their newfound coding skills to find solutions to real world problems like world hunger and the lack of access to education. These are among the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.