REPORT
Workshop for elementary, junior high and senior high school girls
[Sony x Rikechen!] The ultimate in monozukuri enjoyment ★ Programing event for girls
The 5th Sony Science Program for Girls took place on August 5, 2018.
23 girls ranging from primary to high school students took part in an event facilitated by Rikechen*1, an organization for girls studying science, following the theme "Let's create something we'd like to see using MESH™ *2." Split into teams of four, they explored what they could create using MESH to link everyday items together via the Internet, and shared their ideas together. As a result, they showed many delightful items born of free concepts, including a system to tell you if you get sleepy when studying, a garbage can on a buggy that comes to you, and curtains that automatically close when it gets dark.
The Sony Group is proactively engaged in initiatives to support women empowerment and promote diversity. As part of this event, female engineers employed by the Group held panel discussions to encourage more women to become engineers. Based on questions from the attendees, they spoke about their reasons for choosing science and engineering as their major and why they joined Sony, and their summer science project as primary school students. The participants appeared interested in exiting world of science and engineering and expressed various views on the wide range of topics to study and the fact that scientists are free to express themselves irrespective of gender. During their conversations with the employees, some of them stated that they wished to join Sony.
The event concluded with a cross-generational exchange of opinions all together to encourage the participants to choose careers in science and engineering. The participants were awarded certificates of completion.
This event successfully achieved its objective, which was to provide an opportunity to experience the joys of science and exchange views with people of different generations. The event was made possible with the cooperation of Gakken Associe Co., Ltd., and Shuhaly Co., Ltd., and enabled the university students in science course that participated to the event to obtain insights through interaction.
Comments from participants
- I was amazed at actually being able to realize something by connecting tablets together.
- I learned that the range of things to learn within the subject of science was much greater than I had thought.
- I hope to get more opportunities to use MESH in the future.
Comments from participants' families
- I am delighted they were able to enjoy their activities while communicating with other youngsters.
- It's wonderful that they were able to communicate with people of different ages.
- I think it is great that they could experience programming and make contact with female employees working in science and engineering.
- It's incredible that they could actually realize something by connecting iPads together.
- *1. What's Rikechen?"Rikechen" is a made-up word derived from "rikei," which is Japanese for science course, and "chen," an abbreviation of "change" as pronounced in Japanese. It refers to a group for female science students which endeavors to inform people about the attractions of science, and the current reality and future image of females studying it.
- *2. What's MESH™?MESH is a tool that lets both adults and children explore the smart world using everyday objects. Just attach a MESH tag to a physical object to connect it to various smart devices and Internet applications using the MESH app. There is no need for electronics or programming expertise, and it's easy to quickly get started creating your own IoT (Internet of Things) recipes. This product was created through Sony's Seed Acceleration Program (SAP), which creates startup projects and supports their business operations.
Please visit the official websitefor more information on MESH
