Bring Your Child to Work Day at GE Global Research
On April 22, 2010 we hosted our 7th annual Bring your Child to Work Day (BYCTWD) at GEGlobal Research. BYCTWD is something that I have personally participated in for the past three years and it is something that I am happy to say GE Global Research supports as well. It can be a very impactful day for children— it is a day that many remember for a lifetime. The bonding experiences that have taken place between my children and I throughout our years of taking part in BYCTWD makes the event a success in itself. However, working at GE Global Research, BYCTWD also provides a unique opportunity to teach our children about science, history, technology, and cultures of the world.
This year, 176 children, ages 7 to 16 years old, participated in the event. The day started with talks and demos by Patrick Jarvis, who welcomed everyone to GE Global Research; Margaret Blohm, who spoke about nanotechnology; and Adam Rasheed & Doug Hofer who played slow motion video’s of every day events such as the blinking of an eye; Adam posted a number of cool slow motion video clips on his blog: In the Blink of an Eye .
Children were provided with goodie bags, and opportunities to win awards. Participants were also issued a “Passport” and were told to visit the posters/displays associated with the various countries. Upon visiting each poster, they obtained a stamp in their Passport. Over lunch, the Global Research firemen parked one of the fire trucks in an area that was viewable from the cafeteria and practiced some fire extinguishing moves (and also had some fun). Members of our shops also demonstrated glass blowing, sign engraving, and use of the water-jet machining tool (you can view videos of the glass blowing and the water-jet machining below). Everyone was surprised to see how fast, and accurate, high pressure water could fabricate holes into metals. Seeing liquid glass being manipulated is always exciting even for adults.
Visitors to the research center also had the opportunity to: see Edison’s desk (the real thing, see photo to the left), a replica of the original Edison light bulb, view historical photos that are present in the hallways/staircases, and view poster presentations of novel research that has been performed at Global Research and are displayed in the hallways. Many people also visited some of the laboratories. Some of the children had the chance to see where their parent(s) work and get a better idea of what their parent(s) do at work. Below, we provide video clips that were provided by the parents of three of the participants. The children are summarizing their highlights of the days events. The summaries that the children provided agree nicely with the summary above.
Bring your child to work day is an national event, for more information see the link: Bring Our Sons & Daughter to Work Day. As scientists, we always enjoy talk with people about our jobs and it is especially rewarding to excite the next generation of research scientists. It is clear that the events hosted at GE Global Research achieved their goal.
Does your place of employment participate in Bring your Child to Work Day? If so, let us know. Also tell us what type of activities you provide during the day and the feedback you obtain from the children.
[...] year, for example, GE hosted an official event to mark the day where 176 children learned about nanotechnology, slow-motion photography, glass [...]