Science for the young minds: The Philippine Science Centrum and its traveling interactive exhibits

Science and technology are critical determinants for a country’s progress. Among ASEAN countries and regional neighbors, the Philippines has been left behind in economic development in the last several decades. Understandably, during the same period, the Philippines comparatively had among the lowest investment in S&T and R&D. Our Department of Science and Technology is a perennial lowest-budgeted agency of the national government. The Department of Education, while a top-budgeted department, had not placed sufficient emphasis on science education. These two agencies should be the cornerstones for developing human resources attuned to the rapidly changing technology-based global community.

S&T consciousness must start at the elementary and high school levels — whether the exposure leads to science and engineering courses or to vocational/technical skills. To help the government address this critical concern, the Philippine Foundation for Science and Technology (PFST) was established. It envisions to create awareness among young students of the value of science in daily life and the professions. PFST has set its long-term vision to develop a critical mass of young people who will go into science-oriented careers and professions. 

What is the best way to beckon our young to science and science-related subjects?  Changing the mindset of parents and students that science is hard to understand and boring, we needed to create a “fun-learning” environment in teaching science. This led to the setting up of the Science Centrum which features “interactive science exhibits” where students, and even teachers, learn faster through actually experiencing the science concepts usually found only in books.

The tagline “Science Is Fun” encapsulates what the Philippine Science Centrum is offering to its visitors. The array of exciting hands-on science exhibits displayed in various galleries has continued to amaze and tickle visitors — kids, teens, adults, students, teachers, yuppies, professionals, etc… The atmosphere of learning while having fun is evident when visitors manipulate, tinker with and try the different exhibits.

Presenting and packaging the commonly perceived “boring science” into exciting, challenging and interactive modules paved the way for better appreciation and keen interest in science and technology among the student population. Two impact studies on PSC’s interactive exhibits were conducted (1995 and 2006) and resulted in positive conclusions. After visiting the Philippine Science Centrum, “majority of the student-respondents have increased interest in science and wanted to be engineers and scientists” (1995) and “student-respondents learned science concepts from the exhibits and one minute of interaction appeared to have a fruitful learning outcome” (2007).

For more than two decades, the Philippine Science Centrum presently located in Marikina City continues to offer new features and exhibits year after year. With its internal capacity in interactive exhibit development and fabrication, the PSC has the capability of producing customized exhibits with locally sourced materials.

Having a ‘hair-raising” experience with the Van de Graaff exhibit, mimicking the “Matrix Move” at the Wonder House, making an illusion of floating in the air at the Anti-Gravity Mirror, experiencing “airlessness” of the outer space at the Human Gyro, etc… are some of the amazing “moves” one will experience at the Science Centrum. To the more than three million students and teachers who were engaged and got interested in science, their experience leaves an indelible mark in their psyche. Post-visit comments, blogs and even press releases attest to the visitors’ educational and entertaining experience at the Science Centrum.

How about the other millions of students, teachers and people in all walks of life in the countryside, in the provinces and towns? Will they be able to experience the amazing science exhibits in their locality? In 1995, the PSC mobilized its first mobile exhibition, the Adventures in Discovery-Traveling Science Centrum (AID-TSC), to bridge the gap of distance and bring the Science Centrum to the regions. The maiden exhibition in Lapu-Lapu City, Mactan Island, Cebu province was a blockbuster. It had 40 modules that replicated some of the exhibits in the Centrum.

Due to unrelenting requests and the clamor for month-long exhibitions from various entities in the provinces, the second set, “Sci-Fun Caravan,” was produced and mobilized in 2002.

After the successful run of the two mobile exhibitions (from 2002 to 2006) and the assessment that the PSC beneficiaries are larger in numbers in the regions, the PFST Board of Trustees decided to enhance its capabilities to design and produce more traveling exhibits to reach more students and teachers in the provinces.

The third set, “Science on the Move,” was mobilized in 2007; the fourth set, “Science Works!” in 2009; and the fifth set, “Science Sparks!” was completed and mobilized in 2012.

As the number of PSC’s traveling sets increases, the number of students and teachers “touched by the amazing and exciting world of science” also increases.  With five sets, the average annual attendance is already at 500,000 visitors.  This justifies PFST and PSC’s thrust of exposing more students and creating interest in science among them at a “faster pace.”

From Abra to Samar to Siargao Island and Lanao del Norte, the mobile exhibitions have already visited 150 towns, provincial cities and capitals with a combined attendance of more than 3.1 million visitors. By 2016, this number is targeted to reach six million for the traveling exhibits.

Producing the nine sets of traveling exhibitions is PFST’s top priority but keeping the Science Centrum constantly upgraded with new and exciting interactive exhibits is still a “must-do.” PFST looks to the country’s top corporations and industrialists to help create that science mindset among our youth, as it is in our neighboring countries.

When the youth consider science as fun and something they can understand early, the future looks well for increasing the number of engineers, scientists, and technology-based careers needed by our growing economy.

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Engr. Filemon T. Berba Jr. is a BS Electrical Engineering graduate of UP (magna cum Laude and board topnotcher), with an MBA from the Wharton School in Philadelphia (with distinction). He is the president of Philippine Foundation for Science and Technology, chairman of the Science Centrum Fabrication Inc., former member of the UP Board of Regents and Board of Trustees of the Philippine Science High School, and member of the board of several universities and corporations. He was awarded by the UP Alumni Engineers as one of the “100 Outstanding Alumni Engineers of the Century” during the Centennial Year of the UP College of Engineering. He retired from the Ayala Group after having been president of IMI, Globe Telecom, and Manila Water. E-mail at [email protected] or [email protected].