The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : IBM expands education initiative in Tamil Nadu

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Nov 03, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

IBM expands education initiative in Tamil Nadu

Swahilya

Three kiosks are added at the TryScience Room at the Birla Planetarium

SCIENTIFIC QUEST: Students at the IBM TryScience Computer Kiosk which was inaugurated at the Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Centre at the planetarium in Chennai. — Photo: S.R. Raghunathan

Chennai: Want to know what's happening at the Houston Science Centre or the Centre at Canberra, Australia? Web cameras at the three IBM kiosks in the Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Centre at the Birla Planaterium can take one around the world and beyond.

IBM Global Services on Wednesday expanded its education initiative in Tamil Nadu by adding three kiosks at the TryScience Room at the Planetarium with a view to enhance the importance of science and foster the spirit of scientific quest among the youth.

Jalaja Pillai, Manager, Corporate Community Relations, said TryScience was a project for children that used technology to make science teaching progressive. It is part of a worldwide initiative to make science and technology fun, non-instructional and self-explanatory. The three kiosks in Chennai are part of 100 kiosks around the world.

The kiosks have been designed in collaboration with the New York Hall of Science and Association of Science and Technology Centres. The latter has a network of 450 Science and Technology Centres, of which the one at Chennai is a member.

Observation

P. Iyamperumal, Executive Director, said science was nothing but observation and the kiosks helped children observe various scientific experiments and phenomena. The kiosk has Internet facility between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. when the web camera is enabled and children can watch exhibits at other centres around the world.

Two hundred students participated in the inauguration of the centre by C.Ve. Shanmugam, Minister for Education and Commercial Taxes. The Minister said the Government was happy to be part of IBM's initiative to bring an easier and better way for children to learn science and generate an interest in the subject across Tamil Nadu. "This is a good example of how corporates can support and bring about a change in the community. In this case, IBM has combined its technical expertise with the expertise of educators and teachers to help make a real difference to children's education," he said.

Vaidyanathan Venkataraman, Communication-Specialist, IBM, said the website contained on and off-line multimedia activities that changed continually. as new experiences and exhibits were created for visitors. IBM also had similar initiatives in the field of education through EXITE (Exploring Interests in Technology and Engineering), KidSmart, Mentoring and OnDemand Community across the country, working with various age groups, he said.

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