Covestro Marks the Tenth Anniversary of the MagicMaterial School

Established in 2014, Covestro MagicMaterial School, which was named a finalist for the 2022 Gartner Communications Award in the category of “Excellence in ESG, Sustainability and DEI Communications”, will mark its tenth anniversary this Fall. Aiming to protect science as a human right for all the hearing-impaired schools in Taiwan, as well as creating a stage to allow hearing-impaired children to be seen and heard, Covestro Taiwan has developed various programs to let hearing-impaired children shine on. Among all the activities of the MagicMaterial School series, the founding base is the science clubs that were set up in all the hearing-impaired schools across Taiwan. Via these biweekly science club classes, Covestro has planted the seeds of science among hearing-impaired students in those three schools. 

Since Covestro Taiwan’s science education consultant, Professor Liang-Rong Hsu from National Taichung University of Education, has recently retired, the collaborating university and professor of the science club at Tainchung Hearing-Impaired School have been transferred to Associate Professor Wei-Jyun Chien from Chaoyang University of Technology(CYUT), while the non-paid consultant role will be taken by Professor Wang-Long Li of National Cheng Kung University (NCKU). Professor Li has been dedicated to Science Education for over two decades, and was the convenor of popular science projects and organizer of 2017-2019 Taiwan Railways of Popular Science under the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC). The collaboration parties for the other two hearing-impaired schools remain the same: Adjunct Lecturer Jao-Fang Shiu of National Taipei University for Nursing and Health Technology, who is also a famous science experiment columnist, will keep on teaching at the Covestro Science Club of Taipei School for the Hearing Impaired; and Professor Li of NCKU will keep on leading his team to teach at the science club in the hearing-impaired school in Tainan. 

Chemistry Light up Diversity and Inclusion 

With diversity, equity and inclusion in mind, this campaign not only protects science as a human right in hearing-impaired schools across Taiwan, which are lacking science education resources; but it also creates lots of platforms and involves different groups of children in several inclusive activities, so that children without hearing loss can respect differences and recognize the capability that hearing-impaired children have, as well as learning that every individual in society has infinite potential. Throughout the campaign series, the Covestro Science Clubs established in the hearing impairment schools play a crucial role. The students in those schools are not only encouraged to join the club, but also to join interactive events designed by Covestro to interact and teach scientific magic tricks to children without disabilities. 

Starting from the 112th academic year in Taiwan, Covestro will further cooperate with CYUT on the Covestro MagicMaterial School, to combine CSR and USR (University Social Responsibility). Associate Professor Wei-Jyun Chien, Director of the Department of Applied Chemistry of CYUT, is also planning a special credit course called Chemical Enterprise and Consuming Goods, which is expected to be implemented in the new semester, and Director Chien will screen two to three students from the class to teach at the science club of Taichung’s hearing-impaired school. To ensure the quality of teaching, these college students would need to discuss their lesson plans with Director Chien, practice the experiments and the prepare the teaching before classes. "Partnering with enterprise to integrate USR and CSR is part of the CYUT USR direction, and we look forward of having more in-depth cooperation with Covestro in the future", said Professor Wei-Jyun Chien. CYUT has been included in the 2023 University Impact Rankings for five consecutive years, and it is the only private university for science and technology in Taiwan in the rankings. 

Since the establishment of the Covestro Science Club, Taipei School for the Hearing Impaired proactively invited students from the science club to conduct science magic tricks at its school event every semester. In order to make science accompany the growth of hearing-impaired children, the school also plans to change the targets of the club from high school students to primary school children, starting from the 112th academic year. "Seeing the achievements of the Covestro Science Club gives us the confidence that we shall plant the science seed when hearing-impaired children are still little,” said Dr. Zhao Lihua, Principal of Taipei School for the Hearing Impaired, “so that it can bring greater impact to the children’s future development." 

In the last class of the second semester of the 111th academic year, Professor Wang-Long Li led science club members of the hearing-impaired school in Tainan to make ice cream on their own, while learning the science theory behind its creation: salt can cool down liquid quickly, so that milk can turn into delicious ice cream in a very short time. It fostered the children’s impression that lives are full of science on that hot summer day. 
"Covestro Taiwan is particularly grateful to Professor Liang-Rong Hsu for his efforts over the years,” said Renee Chen, Head of Communications and DEI Leader of Covestro Taiwan. “At the same time, I would like to thank CYUT for joining us in making our Science Club at the Hearing-Impaired School in Taichung not only CSR but also USR. I would also like to show my appreciation to Professor Wang-Long Li for taking over the position of Covestro Science Education Consultant without pay and running the science club in the Tainan school. Also, I am grateful for the continuous partnership with Jao-Fang Shiu for our science club at the hearing-impaired school in Taipei. It is their enthusiastic support which has enabled us to protect science as a human right at all three hearing impairment schools in Taiwan, and further allowed children without disabilities to witness the ability of hearing-impaired children via the various and interesting platforms that we created. We sincerely believe that diversity, inclusion, harmony and sustainable development are what constitute a promising future for both society and our children."