BSKE: A welcome, pleasant surprise that should be viral

With great pride, Timoteo Paez Elementary School in Pasay City participated in the first-ever Bayer Smiling Kiddie Einsteins (BSKE) program.

The Science series was published in the Learning section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer in partnership with Bayer Philippines Inc. The program was conducted from Nov. 11 to Dec. 15.

I saw the smiles on my pupils’ faces and felt uncontrollable excitement as a Science teacher. Since the program was new to me and also something novel for my pupils’ Science education, each series every week was always a welcome and a very pleasant surprise. We did not know what topic would be discussed in the Learning section.

We started by giving the pupils a background on what the series was all about. Since all the materials needed for the experiments were available at home, it was not hard for pupils to bring them to school.

The only problem was how to do the experiments inside the classroom if the school did not have a Science laboratory.

But the problem was not that difficult to resolve. As they say, learning can take place anywhere, not just inside a four-walled classroom. It can be in the corridor, at the covered court or even the waiting area.

Similarly, the experiments could be done outside a lab.

As the series continued, pupils became so excited they would remind me about the next issue and experiment.

After every installment of the series, I could feel their interest growing. As a Science teacher, I knew it was important to come up with different ways of teaching a subject to make learning more engaging and more experiential. Using the newspaper inside the classroom was one of those ways.

The newspaper as a teaching material developed the learners’ interest in other aspects like reading, research and the wise use of one’s time.

Research findings indicated that when people were interested in something, they became more attentive and alert. It was also found that the creation of environments where pupils were exposed to different learning materials eventually developed in them a greater and more enduring interest in doing different things.

This suggested that pupils in a classroom, particularly when the subject was Science, should be exposed to various activities to give them rich and playful early childhood experiences.

As a teacher, I hope the program continues and becomes viral so the interest of pupils in Science will increase to produce high-caliber and productive future citizens of the country.

The writer teaches Science at Timoteo Paez Elementary School in Pasay City.