Little chil­dren, clever heads

The next gener­a­tion must be nurtured from kinder­garten onwards: if we want to ensure there are enough clever heads in the future we must make tech­nology attrac­tive right from the start.

Chil­dren are born explorers: Why does the wheel turn? How does a bulb light up? What happens to the sun at night? With various projects for small and not-so-small chil­dren, ebm-papst is satis­fying the next generation’s natural curiosity. At the St. Georgen loca­tion, the “Tech­no­lino” part­ner­ship programme initi­ated by the “Südwest­metall” asso­ci­a­tion is quenching children’s thirst for knowl­edge. “We teach chil­dren about tech­nology in a playful way”, explains Roland Weisser, ebm-papst plant manager at St. Georgen. Kinder­garten chil­dren visit the factory and, together with trainees and the speaking bird puppet Tech­no­lino, discover the world of tech­nology. For example, fan-driven mini-cars are made, with which the little researchers can then hold races. “Clever heads are our most impor­tant resource”, empha­sises Weisser, “so we must make sure that this resource continues to flow in the future, too.”

The Mulfingen loca­tion is also actively committed to the early promo­tion of the next gener­a­tion, for example in several projects in the inno­v­a­tive Kocher & Jagst region. Every year since 2004, around 20 chil­dren aged between eight and ten have spent a week tinkering around in the training work­shop. Together with two committed retired employees, as well as trainees and trainers from ebm-papst, they have been doing the “Inven­tors week” credit; for example, little hover­craft and gliders have been devel­oped, designed and constructed. In coop­er­a­tion with schools in the region, ebm-papst is taking part in the MINTe­cHohen­lohe project spon­sored by the Landess­tiftung Baden-Würt­tem­berg (state foun­da­tion). In the MINTec work­shops, trainees are the learning part­ners of the school­children. The topics go beyond the compul­sory syllabus and encourage research into and discus­sion of phys­ical and scien­tific phenomena. At the end of a week in the work­shop, the chil­dren have learnt a lot about tech­nology and can proudly take their own “jour­neyman pieces” home. “The school­children have a lot of fun with this form of learning, for the young trainees can give them the assis­tance they need”, explains Stefanie Geis­busch, the Project Manager for MINTe­cHohen­lohe. This early contact and exchange of prac­tical expe­ri­ence with the trainees frequently leads to the subse­quent desire to take up a tech­nical occu­pa­tion. The students at Heil­bronn Tech­nical College took this deci­sion long ago, but they still benefit from spon­sor­ship by ebm-papst in the form of two foun­da­tion profes­sor­ships. One of the profes­sor­ships is in the area of renew­able ener­gies. Here the focus is on the next gener­a­tion in the truest sense of the term.