We are grateful for Ms Phoebe Sing's affirmation of our Young Scientist Badge (YSB) Programme and her compliments (Expand Young Scientist Badge programme to older Singaporeans, Oct 10).
We appreciate her perspective on expanding the programme to older Singaporeans, to stimulate research interest and capabilities, and agree that stimulating interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) at all ages will benefit Singapore.
When the YSB was initiated in 1982, our mission was to support the national push for talent development in Stem. The best way we thought of to do so was to spark early exposure to these fields through discovery-based, self-directed activities, which led to the creation of a programme that complemented the national science syllabus.
The core mission of YSB today remains largely the same, though trends and public sentiments over the years have led to the evolution of the programme.
Critically, following feedback that YSB can stand to benefit more than just young learners, we opened up the programme to all members of the public, locally and globally, in 2020. Anyone and everyone can enrol in YSB on our website, which today fully empowers beyond-the-classroom learning through its activities for people from all walks of life.
We have also worked with various corporate partners and public agencies that are domain specialists, to provide content breadth and depth for a richer learning experience.
Complementing this, Science Centre Singapore has multiple platforms for spurring research interest among different age groups, at different scales, because diversity fundamentally adds to the collective knowledge of any research group.
To this end, some programmes that we have include the Questa Club for secondary level students who want to explore how science influences society and the world around them. Students are awarded badges for completing tasks, stimulating interest in science and independent learning.
For adults, we organise citizen science programmes, providing the opportunities for community-based research endeavours with a focus on sustainability.
We also warmly welcome young people and adults, including seniors, to continue their interest and passion in bringing science to the community with us through avenues such as exhibit interaction and star-gazing nights, among the many activities the Science Centre regularly organises.
We thank Ms Sing for her kind feedback, and remain committed to providing opportunities at all levels to ensure that interest and passion for Stem in Singaporeans are as fuelled as they are fulfilled.
Anne Dhanaraj (Dr)
Senior Director, Education
Science Centre Board
