Wellspring of Science Inspiration
- Children's Schoolhouse of Dreams
(From the Foundation’s pamphlet “Establishing a place for children to experience science”)
The Wellspring of Science Inspirations is an activity targeted for children. It is under the direction of principal teacher Dr. Hideki Shirakawa, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. It started its activities from 2005.
Children from grades 5 to 8 stay several nights with teachers and experience first-hand social manners and joys of learning through feeling the wonders of nature and science. With “learning from nature” as the main concept, the children work in groups on topics of their choice while enjoying, investigating, researching, and discussing nature. They also conduct experiments on electricity-conductive plastics, which was Dr. Shirakawa’s turning point in achieving his Nobel Prize, as well as experiencing astronomical observations at night. The children learn the importance of working as a team through group activities with other children of different grades.
The foundation supports participants even after the summer through planning social gatherings, and hopes that The Wellspring of Science Inspirations will eventually develop into a program in which alumni will play the main role for the program management and operation.
