Speaker: Cesar Harada

Title of material: How I teach kids to love science

Year and Place of publication: TED Fellows Retreat 2015

Publisher: TEDTalks

Webstie: https://www.ted.com/talks/cesar_harada_how_i_teach_kids_to_love_science/up-next

Date of retrieval: 10/7/17

Reliability

Cesar Harada teaches the students at Hong Kong Harbour School that won 2nd place in Pearson’s

“21st Century School of the Year” competition in 2014, and made a partnership with MakerBay, Hong

Kong’s first large-scale makerspace. As the director of MakerBay, Cesar Harada encourages

innovation among children above 7 years old by taking on real-world projects at the institution under

the former’s leadership. Therefore, it shows their ability and position of power to cultivate interest in

science among children as well as sustaining it due to their readily available resources and merger

with a school.

Usefulness of Source

Collaborate with a company that can provide resources, mentorship attachments and preferable a

concrete programme that enhances the current school syllabus or as additional learning. The learning

point inspired the idea of potential partnership with certain institutions that can allow an attachment

program. Not only will this offer access to resources but also provides real-world experience for the

children. By using simple, open-sourced technologies, children can understand the basic functions

and mechanics of a design. The collaboration cultivates interest in science due to experiential

learning and as a means to solve issues which leave an impact on their community and even globally.

A one week workshop to teach the basics of a specific research focus allows students to be exposed

to the experimental and demanding design processes typical in the a 21 st century workforce.
During the programme, the best ideas from students can be collected and combined to create

something of possible potential. The project moving from research and design moves on to

prototyping and final product development which although possesses a steep learning curve, would

be beneficial to the development of critical thinking. By focusing on the creativity involved in solving a

problem, the children are not bound by rules and logic initially, creating unique solutions. By working

at different scales, from addressing a local issue such as wheelchair mobility to a global problem, the

research will be hold more relevance to the children.

During this exercise, children will be posed with the problem, and subsequently provided with various

mediums through which they can convey their ideas. Such materials would include the traditional way

of drawing or writing but also Lego and Play-doh. With assistance from the inventors/teachers, the

children will be able to solidify their ideas as a whole to select the most feasible.