GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is one of the world's leading pharmaceutical and healthcare companies committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. “Partners with Education” — a GSK community investment initiative — reflects this mission. This initiative helps young people develop knowledge, understanding, technical and personal skills in areas relevant to GSK's business, with a particular focus on science. It also aims to stimulate interest and confidence in science among young people, so that they understand and can apply scientific and technical issues found in everyday life. Several educational programs are part of GSK’s “Partners in Education” initiative:
Science in the Summer
Science in the Summer is a free science education program sponsored by GSK that helps elementary school children in the greater Philadelphia area “grow into science.” Now in its 20th year, the GSK Science in the Summer program gets kids excited about studying science by using hands-on experiments. Courses include bioscience, chemistry, simple machines/how machines work, physical science/electricity and oceanography. Each year, the program is offered in public libraries in five Pennsylvania counties to approximately 6,000 children. GlaxoSmithKline also provides a yearly grant to each participating county to purchase science books for their libraries. To date, more than 80,000 children have participated in the program, with GSK investing approximately $400,000 each year. To learn more visit www.scienceinthesummer.com.
In December 2003, the Philadelphia Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America recognized the GSK Science in the Summer program with an award for excellence and creativity in community relations.
Minority Externship Program
GlaxoSmithKline, in collaboration with the Medical Society of Eastern Pennsylvania, sponsors a Minority Externship Program. This program is designed to assist undergraduate students interested in pursing medical careers and to address the disproportionate shortage of African-American physicians. During the summer program, students are offered a unique, behind-the-scenes view of the professional life of physicians in various specialties. Students spend eight one-week rotations with African-American physicians in specialties such as obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, general and specialized surgeries, ophthalmology and gastroenterology. To date, more than 50 students have participated in the program and more than 90% of them have gone on to medical school.
Science Across the World
Developed and managed by the Association for Science Education in partnership with GSK, Science Across the World is an exciting way of teaching science, languages, general studies and information and communications technology to eight to 16 year olds, based on science, social science and environmental topics. Students from schools in different countries exchange information on a range of topics through the Science Across the World website (www.scienceacross.org) and by email, fax, mail and telephone. To date, the site has more than 2,700 teacher members from 96 countries.
Active Science
GSK offers a host of interactive, age-appropriate resources for five to 16 year olds, parent and teachers through its on-line portal, www.activescience-gsk.com. The site includes a variety of science activities and information. All modules are based on educational recommendations from various sources and therefore have intrinsic educational value. For younger children, the activities are based on games to help them learn about humans and animals. For older children, the games are more challenging and are supported by downloadable databases for independent study. Worksheets and information for parents and teachers complete the picture.
