Automotive Business Review February 2015 | Page 28

Corporate Conscience | by Austin Gamble Science on the Go CSI (Corporate Social Investment) is an acronym that came into vogue in the 1990’s, having evolved from the previous CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) programmes that were developed in the 1980’s. Initially, CSR and CSI programmes were generally welfare-related, but today companies are looking for a social return on their investment, and are also looking ahead when they allocate funds to their CSI programmes. O ne such company is MAHLE Behr South Africa (MBSA). MBSA’s commercial director, Alex Holmes, says “At MAHLE Behr South Africa we are particularly focused on the communities near to where we operate, and the areas in which our employees live. Our “Science2Go” programme is an innovative way to reach a larger number of students from our local area with high-quality science education. We believe that the portable science lab will inspire, educate and spark the interest of science leaders for tomorrow.” Holmes adds that MBSA sees CSI as both a Corporate Social Investment and a Community Social Investment. CASME have experienced facilitators and laboratory assistants who will be conducting the sessions at the thirty local schools. The lessons have been designed to align with the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) requirements for Physical and Natural Sciences. The equipment will be taken to the school in the MAHLE Science2Go laboratory, utilised in the lessons and then returned for replenishment and maintenance. ➲ Alex Holmes, commercial director at MAHLE Behr South Africa Thirty schools in the rural and under resourced areas of Claremont, KwaDabeka and Molweni with currently little or no science infrastructure are set to benefit in 2015 from MAHLE Behr’s South Africa(MBSA) “Science2Go”mobile science laboratory. It is all about taking science to areas that are poorly resourced and to help students perform curriculumbased hands-on experiments. This initiative came about because MBSA’s research indicated that their previous initiatives to improve maths and science marks were bearing fruit in maths but not science, and that the reason was the lack of science laboratories. ➲ Science2Go Rap Artists Stimulation in science comes from hands-on experiments, and to address this problem MBSA is partnering with the Centre for the Advancement of Science and Mathematics Education (CASME), who have created the colourful “Science2Go” vehicle, which has been converted and fitted to house the laboratory science equipment. | words in action 26 Each school will be visited once per term (Terms 1 to 3) for a full day of practical activities. The programme will be structured to enable the facilita ܜ