Science and technology awareness for preschool children: A case study

Abstract

Skills shortages exist in the areas of science and technology, not only in South Africa but globally. Endeavours to address the subsequent need for more people to pursue careers in these disciplines are widespread. We need to ensure that we do not loose the opportunity to have a positive influence on the attitudes of people towards science and technology. The question that comes to mind is where and when to start? There is no clear answer to these questions, but what is obvious is that we cannot sit back and wait to see what happens in the future. We need to start today, learn from mistakes, but make sure to create opportunities where learning can take place. TekkiTots is an intervention to introduce science and technology to preschool children. Age-appropriate content was developed and serves as a vehicle to introduce science and technology in a meaningful, fun and hands-on way to this age group (six-seven years). The initial intended outcome was to encourage a positive attitude towards science and technology and create an eagerness among theses small children to explore science and technology avenues once they enter and subsequently leave school. This paper reports on how this work was initiated, who the collaborative parties were and how this collaboration panned out. In addition to the expected outcomes, we observed some unexpected outcomes as well. In the paper we report on these unexpected outcomes