BMW Group leert kinderen ‘autorijden’ tijdens de IAA Frankfurt 2009

Wie dacht dat de IAA Frankfurt alleen geschikt is voor volwassen autoliefhebbers, heeft het mis. De BMW Group organiseerde speciaal voor de jongste fans de Junior Campus, met als doel het bewustzijn op het gebied van duurzaamheid bij kinderen al spelenderwijs te vergroten.

Een groot succes want in twee weken bewogen zich per trapauto of fietsje meer dan 1.000 enthousiaste en leergierige kinderen over het campusterrein. Zij werden spelenderwijs kundiger op het gebied van duurzaamheid en gedrag in het verkeer.

Een gewichtig resultaat, aangezien kinderen – de beleidsvormers van de toekomst – al  ruim twintig jaar een belangrijke rol spelen in sociale activiteiten van de BMW Group. Onderstaand het volledige Engelstalige persbericht.

“May I start all over again?” asks eight-year-old Elena eagerly after the two-hour sustainability workshop at the Junior Campus.

“The children have a lot of fun and on top of it they playfully acquire knowledge,” explains Marit Stoye, head of the pedagogically trained team at the Junior Campus. Since the IAA opened its doors on September 15, more than 700 children and teenagers have visited the sustainability workshops and mobility driving course sessions and broadened their horizon.

 The Junior Campus concept was developed in cooperation with experts from education science and road safety education. Based on a three-step guided learning concept, the sustainability workshops at the Junior Campus introduce visitors aged between seven and 13 to topics such as resource conservation, sustainable production and traffic management.

In the entrance and lab areas of the Junior Campus, the boys and girls learn about, for instance, water saving and the optimization of logistics processes according to environmentally and climate friendly criteria. The workshop participants are particularly enthusiastic about putting the knowledge gained into practice by recycling and subsequently constructing a vehicle at the Campus Workshop. “I wish I could just go ahead and build another car,” says ten-year-old Hendrik who has just completed the “mission” to build a highly sustainable and environmentally friendly city vehicle together with his two teammates.

 The other part integrated into the BMW Group Junior Campus, the mobility driving course, is the perfect combination of fun and road safety activities. Following a theoretical introduction about mobility, safety and important traffic rules, the youngsters can apply their new knowledge: The six- to eight-year-olds demonstrate their skills on the slalom course and the slope, and the youngest road users between three and five learn about the meaning of a right light while trying out Baby Racers and Kids Bikes.

 The young visitors are supervised by pedagogically trained staff throughout.

 As the decision-makers of tomorrow, children and teenagers have played a vital role in the BMW Group’s social responsibility activities for over 20 years. The Junior Campus intends to raise young people’s awareness for sustainability, one of the main pillars in the BMW Group’s corporate strategy.

 The pedagogic idea and the didactic concept of the sustainability workshop are based on the Junior Campus of BMW Welt in Munich. This interactive platform for mobility topics has been in operation very successfully since October 2007, benefiting students from various educational backgrounds aged between seven and 13 or from grades two to seven, respectively. For reservation and registration please contact the BMW Welt Info Service under 0 18 02 11 88 22 (daily from 8:00am to 10:00pm).