Enchanted Kingdom, the first and only world class theme park in the Philippines, strengthens its Edutainment (Education + Entertainment) advocacy through its partnership with the Department of Science and Technology — Science and Technology Information Institute (DOST-STII) during the renewal of the memorandum of agreement on the acquisition and installment of two STARBOOKS units held at the DOST-STII office in Taguig City on September 12.
According to DOST’s briefer, STARBOOKS or Science and Technology Academic and Research-Based Openly-Operated Kiosks is the country’s first fully-digital Science and Technology (S&T) library in a box. STARBOOKS is a highly-transportable digital knowledge resource stored in a computer containing thousands of carefully-curated knowledge content including research papers, journal articles, livelihood and educational videos, and learning and teaching materials for Grades 1 to 12 students.
The two units will be installed at the theme park before the end of September, ahead of EK’s 28th Anniversary celebration on October 28. Currently, EK is also collaborating with DOST’s new app, Starbooks Whizz. Through this interactive app, students can now enjoy answering questions related to science behind the rides at EK.
According to EK’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) Cynthia R. Mamon, Enchanted Kingdom is home to more than 600,000 students every year. “We are one with DOST STII in their mission to educate everyone especially the youth on Science and Technology. We are committed in ensuring that learning never stops while they are having fun through our edutainment program. For example, through Enchanting Klassroom, students can learn the physics behind our rides and utilize the Park as their laboratory,” Ms. Mamon shared. With STARBOOKS, learnings are made available to the students when they go to Enchanted Kingdom, Ms. Mamon added.
In a message, DOST STII Director Richard P. Burgos underscored the importance of having partners as they contribute resources and networks essential to projects and initiatives. “The Enchanted Kingdom officers share our vision that you can also be entertained and at the same time be educated,” Director Burgos affirmed.
As of today, there are around 7,000 STARBOOKS sites in the Philippines located at schools, college and universities, local government units, government agencies and non-government agencies.
