Fueling research, promoting education
Article from TÜV SÜD Journal 3/2010
 | For about six months, the new TÜV SÜD Foundation has been helping schools and universities teach their courses in natural science and technology. The initial support projects have one common goal: to attract more young people into engineering. |
It glows!« The fourth-graders at the elementary school in Steinbach, a town in the central German state of Hesse, cannot believe their eyes. On a piece of wood, no bigger than a DIN A4 sheet, each pupil has spent the past 20 minutes building a small electric circuit – made of thumbtacks, wire, resistors, an LED lamp and a nine-volt battery. Now, the intrigued 9- and 10-year-olds are busy trying to determine which objects conduct electricity: a pupil's hair? No. But scissors, a one-cent coin and a key. Even the ham in a child's recess sandwich is put to the test. The hour ends with a highlight: All of the children hold their hands in the dark and jointly form an electric circuit – and the LED lights up.
Getting elementary-school children excited about technology – this is the goal of TÜV Kids, an initiative of TÜV Hesse. To accomplish this goal, the subsidiary of TÜV SÜD has been providing the more than 1,000 elementary schools in the state with a special educational program for about three years now: Upon request, college students will come to all fourth-grade classes free of charge and explain the technical aspects of electricity, pressure and mechanics.
Refining the mission of TÜV SÜD e.V.
The initiative, the recipient of numerous awards, is now being introduced in other German states. TÜV Kids is actually one of the first three support projects being conducted by the new TÜV SÜD Foundation (see the info box). The idea of piquing the interest of boys and girls in technology attracted the Board of Trustees' interest from the start. »It is so easy to get young people excited – as long as you do it in a playful, age-based manner,« says
Dr. Ernst Schön, the Chairman of the TÜV SÜD Foundation. »With this program, we want to help children and young people develop an interest in the natural sciences. Over the long term, we hope that such initiatives will encourage more young people to major in engineering and mathematics.« The project is being conducted in co-operation with the Scheubeck-Jansen Foundation. It is restricted to eastern Bavaria in the first stage. But an expansion to other areas is being planned.
Projects like TÜV Kids fit precisely into the support program of the TÜV SÜD Foundation. Prof. Dr. Ernst Schadow, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of TÜV SÜD e.V., explains why: »We want to systematically refine the mission of TÜV SÜD e.V. – that is, to promote technical safety in all areas. To turn this mission into a reality, we need engineers and natural scientists, people who are interested in technology in both the narrower and broader senses.«
This idea also forms the basis for two other projects financially supported by the TÜV SÜD Foundation: In one of these projects, innovative teaching techniques are being supported at the University of Mannheim. The idea: The university instructor sits at a tablet PC instead of standing at the chalkboard with his or her back turned to the students. The text written on the screen with a special stylus is projected onto the wall. Notes from the lecture are saved in a PDF document and transferred to a special teaching and learning platform by WLAN. As a result, the students have a perfect set of notes and can concentrate more closely on the lecture itself. The project's initiators hope that interaction between the lecturer and students can be improved as well – enabling more engineering students to successfully complete their degrees.
The TÜV SÜD Foundation's Visiting Professorship Program at the Technische Universität of Munich is designed for advanced students and young scientists. This program enables the university to invite renowned scientists to Munich. The first TÜV SÜD Foundation visiting professor is Professor Steven Glaser of the University of California at Berkeley – an acclaimed expert in earthquake analysis and seismology. During a five-day workshop at the end of July, he will introduce future construction engineers to the subject of »seismology as non-destructive testing.«
The Chairman of the foundation, Dr. Ernst Schön, believes in the initial projects: »We have some big plans. And I am certain that we will initiate another project or two during the year.«