May 2007

SEED expands its roots in China

My name is Ya Zhao and I have been the SEED Coordinator for China in the CHG (China, Japan, Taiwan and Korea) GeoMarket since early 2006. I would like to tell you about SEED’s activity in China, which has grown rapidly in the five years since it began here. SEED has so far connected five schools through the School Network Program, created a volunteer English and Computer program which offers English and computer lessons to SEED school students, and most recently held our first Volunteer, Facilitator and Collaborative Workshops, which were very successful.

With the valued help of my colleague Chen Xiu and several other enthusiastic SEED volunteers, we held our first Collaborative Workshop in April 2007 in Korla, a city in the far western part of China. Students and teachers from Korla Schools No. 5 and No. 9 used SEED’s LWD (learning-while-doing) teaching methods and tools to explore the theme of Climate Change and Alternative Energy and to brainstorm solutions to current challenges resulting from climate change. As an outcome of the workshop, some of the students who participated are planning to enter a robotics competition using technology introduced to them by SEED, including GoGo boards. We are looking forward to the competition and to cheering on the team.

Workshop participants also welcomed a special visit by Korla Education Bureau Vice Director, Mr. Hu, and Chairman, Ms. Wang, who said they greatly appreciate Schlumberger support for education. The event was filmed by a local TV station, which aired the report on the news.

Schlumberger Asia Chairman Mr. Lim Chin Leong, who strongly supports SEED and has visited our schools, has expressed his pleasure with the way SEED is developing in China: “One word sums up SEED for us here in China, ‘REWARDING.’ We started in 2002 and now have 5 SEED schools from Korla in West China, Guankou and Linji in Si Chuan province and Wu Shenqi in Inner Mongolia. Our people, their visits, and our English classes are eagerly anticipated and welcomed. The looks of warmth and appreciation on the teachers’ and children''s faces are moments to be cherished. With this simple program, we are able to reach poor and remote communities. I find it very enriching for the company and for our employees who volunteer their efforts and time.”

Our goal for the future is to hold more Facilitator, Volunteer, and Collaborative Workshops to benefit more teachers and students. Our next step is to hold a school workshop at a school in Chengdu and then to bring the Korla and Chengdu schools together in collaboration. My vision for our SEED program in the long run is to collaborate with SEED schools in Russia.

I hope that our SEED fever can spread widely in China, and I am glad to see that teachers and students are so actively interested in our workshops.

—Ya Zhao
    SEED Coordinator–China

New Content: Online Science Center Climate Challenge—The amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is increasing, and the world is getting warmer. If this trend continues, we could experience dramatic changes in our ecosystems and economies. What can be done to respond? Check out SEED’s new Climate Challenge, and use it to decide the future of the planet. This learning tool is the first of a series of climate simulation tools developed by SEED in collaboration with Drew Jones of The Sustainability Institute, John Sterman of the MIT Sloan School, and Linda Booth Sweeney and Peter Senge of the Society for Organizational Learning. Watch for more to come.