National competitiveness, science for the youth: The Science Centrum and its traveling interactive science exhibits

National Competitiveness Council

The National Competitiveness Council (NCC) jointly chaired by the government (DTI Secretary Gregory Domingo) and the private sector (Bill Luz) has taken initiatives throughout the country to create the appropriate environment for enterprises to operate efficiently and compete effectively. The success of these programs will help make the country move up in the global ranking for competitiveness and thereby attract more local and foreign investments. 

It is important that adequate infrastructure such as power, ports and harbors, airports, and transportation systems be matched by government policies that are attractive and consistent over time. Both the government and the private sector should recognize that technology must be an integral part of the strategic planning for the NCC.

But national competitiveness is not something that is static resulting from short-term and medium-term programs. Competitiveness requires dynamic programs that must keep up with the constantly improving position of other countries in their programs and policies. Global competition is very much anchored on the use of technology both in government and the private sector. The ASEAN 2015 is a challenge to be faced by local enterprises now. 

Over the long term, the country must develop a critical mass of young people who can appreciate, understand and eventually use science and technology as they participate in government, business, and industry. Accordingly science must be a major focus of the educational system, something that practically all our neighboring countries have already been doing years ahead of us. 

Philippine Foundation for Science & Technology

The Philippine Foundation for Science & Technology (PFST), which celebrates its 30th year, has as its vision “A Nation of Science Culture and Productive Citizenry.” It has adopted as its mission the “promotion of science and technology consciousness among the youth, and thereby develop a critical mass of young people interested in the value of Science & Technology for their future and for the country.”

The PFST operates a Science Centrum currently located in the Riverbanks Center in Marikina. It has over 150 interactive science exhibits for elementary and high school students and their teachers. It accommodates at least 60,000 visitors annually.

In addition to the Science Centrum, the PFST presently deploys five traveling interactive science exhibits composed of 40 interactive modules each. In cooperation with the Department of Education and local government units, each traveling exhibit stays in one venue for four to six weeks each time, and accommodates about 20,000 to 50,000 visitors during the period of display. In total, these five traveling exhibits are visited by about 450,000 students and teachers annually all over the country. Entrance is an affordable P50 per student. Teachers are allowed free of charge.

Plans are in place for additional traveling exhibits with themes on Telecommunication and Information Technology, and Health and Medical subjects. Sponsors provide the funding for sets for design and fabrication. Such sponsorships can be part of the corporate social responsibility programs of large companies and foundations who believe in science as key to the future.

Among the major sponsors and supporters are the Guronasyon Foundation headed by Atty. Gilberto Duavit, DMCI Group of the Consunjis, Dr. Magdaleno Albarrasin, Tan Yan Kee Foundation, D&L Industries, and 2GO Travel. The Centrum and the traveling exhibits have already touched the lives of over 6,000,000 students and teachers over the years.

In the last five years alone, 325,000 have visited the main Centrum in Marikina, each paying only P120. Meanwhile 1,200,000 have seen the traveling exhibits: 570,000 in Luzon, 540,000 in the Visayas, and 90,000 in Mindanao. So far, the traveling exhibits have been shown in more than 170 venues in cities and municipalities in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao over the years. 

A survey made among students who have visited the exhibits showed that 67 percent said they would like to take a science course after high school. Exposure to interactive science exhibits stirs up their interest and imagination in science because they could touch and see results better than just reading. 

The PFST also conducts about four “Teachers’ Camps” annually, where science teachers are guided by science and math specialists on how to teach science more effectively. In addition to the “Teachers’ Camps,” a “Balik Scientist” of PFST developed a “Chemistry Laboratory in a Shoebox,” a microscale chemistry lab equivalent to the usual chemistry laboratories in high school.  Over 5,000 science teachers have so far attended programs on “Teaching Science Through Interactive Approaches” and “Hands-On, Minds-On Microsale Chemistry” (HOMOMICH) workshops.

Visitors from science museums in other countries who have seen the Centrum exhibits have been impressed and have ordered modules from the Fabrication Unit of PFST. Exhibits designed and made at PFST’s fabrication facility can be found in Brunei, Australia, Malaysia, and Nepal – proving that Filipino ingenuity can be both technically superior and cost-effective.

In the country, the PFST has helped establish science centrums in 15 locations, among which are the Zamboanga Science Centrum in 2013, and earlier the Iloilo Science Centrum, the Bicol Science Centrum, Pasig Science Centrum, and Quezon City Centrum, among others.

While the country should be proud of having a world-class, multimillion-peso “Mind Museum” in Global City, which is a showcase for the country, only a limited number can afford to visit it. We need to expose young people in islands and provinces far from Metro Manila.

During an international symposium of science museums held in Korea two years ago with 17 participating national science museums, all were funded by their respective governments, except the PFST Centrum with its traveling exhibits which depends on private sector support.  Nevertheless the participants were quite impressed with the traveling interactive science exhibits of PFST that reach out to people in the many islands instead of the people going to a main Centrum.

Regular programs are conducted in cooperation with the Department of Education, Department of Science and Technology, and science organizations. There is the annual “Water Rocket Workshop and Competition,” Science Film Festival, Symposium on Coral Reef Preservation, in cooperation with the California Academy of Science, and prototyping and innovation contests, etc.

In conclusion, the world is now moving and competing in a technology environment. The Philippines must have a long-term vision starting with the youth. They will be the source of the engineers, technologists, and scientists who will help the country become competitive. We need these young science-oriented minds now if we are to meet the challenges of the future.

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The PFST’s board of trustees has former DOST secretary Ceferino Follosco as founding member and chairman emeritus, Meneleo Carlos as chairman, and Filemon Berba Jr. as president.  Its Council of Advisers is headed by former Prime Minister Cesar Virata, Dr. Jose Cruz Jr., Ambassador Cesar Bautista, and other prominent friends of science.

Berba is the president of the Philippine Foundation for Science and Technology. He holds an electrical engineering degree from UP and an MBA for Wharton. He was formerly president of IMI, Globe, and Manila Water of Ayala, and Philippine Electric Corp. of the First Holdings Group. He was president of the Management Association of the Philippines in 1982.