WWW.IDAIRELAN.COM Serious about STEM
Abbott is one of the largest healthcare companies in Ireland with commercial operations and a business service centre in Dublin, and manufacturing facilities in Donegal, Cootehill, Sligo, Clonmel and Longford. With many of its 3,000 employees across all its sites actively involved in community outreach, it is well-placed to offer a behind-the-scenes look at a career in science.
The Abbott Fund programme, Family Science, was launched in Ireland in 2009, the first Abbott affiliate to deliver it outside of the US. The programme is designed to make science interesting and fun for children, and to encourage them to consider it as a potential career.
The programme brings primary school children together with their parents and teachers to learn about science and innovation through exciting experiments led by Abbott employees. Another strand of their STEM engagement is Operation Discovery which focuses on students and teachers in secondary school, leveraging Abbott’s expertise in innovative research and development. The programme brings students to an Abbott facility, where scientists and engineers guide students through hands-on lab experiments using the same tools and procedures that Abbott scientists use in their work.
reached more than 10,000 students, parents and teachers with over 700 employee participants.”
To date, the Abbott Fund programmes in Ireland have reached more than 10,000 students, parents and teachers with over 700 staff members taking part. “Family Science is a programme that got my attention from the start because of its simplicity but also its efficacy,” says Dave, an employee in the Dublin operation. “Sometimes the simple ideas, in this case teaching science to kids in a fun way, are the most effective. If the programmme was successful in planting a seed in one student’s head, that leads them down a path they may not otherwise have taken, then I am proud to have been a small part of that outcome.”
The programme has found champions among educators. One teacher from a school in Longford commented that the ‘hands-on activities for students were excellent, I felt they really benefited from seeing the science they do in school is used in the real world.’ Another said they enjoyed the reactions of the children, ‘especially children I know would be shy – they really lit up when doing the experiments.’ One principal pointed out another benefit of the programme: getting parents and pupils working together in a fun and educational way.
As for the students, the initiative seems to be hitting the mark: One student said, “I enjoyed the DNA experiment, an area of science I love!” Another shared, “Seeing all facets to this area allows us to make wiser decisions.”
ie.abbott
43 ISSUE 13 “The programmes have
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