Education for Innovation (sm) -SEMPCO

Using plywood I-beams for the foundation, Mr. Ro, in the true tradition of all successful entrepreneurs, captured the space he needed at the price he could afford.

Initially, Sempco was a captive shop to Delta Education, supplying all orders to Delta only.

However, the new Sempco offerings included a physics product line as well as k-12 science and mathematics products for hands-on science and math, the type of inquiry-based science learning approach that uses manipulatives, models, experiments and other innovative approaches to teaching science and math.   Mr. Ro contrasts hands-on science with the more traditional lecture-based academic program that he experienced in Korea, one that he sees in so many other developed nations. 

Hands-on learning vs. memorization

“It’s a one-size fits all approach that creates a scientifically literate workforce that can recite Newton’s 2d Law of Motion.  And other developed nations always score better on the international science test than the US, but in the area of innovation and the kind of science and engineering excellence that JFK referred to in his Moon Shot speech, the US soars – and it’s because we have a special approach to teaching science, math, engineering skills.  Look at Goddard, Shewhart, Gates, Jobs, Zuckerberg – all in the US,” says Mr. Ro.

Soon, as Sempco needed more floor space, their product offerings grew.  The company became a supplier to school districts, including the over 500-classes, k – 12 Montgomery County Public Schools system in Maryland.  Fisher Scientific, Science Kit, Nasco, Carolina and other distributors are also steady Sempco customers.  Ro attributes the growth to JFK, Sputnik, various competitive initiatives and the National Science Foundation.  From the first sudden and unexpected Soviet incursion into space, Sputnik I in 1957, to the US’ week-kneed response five years later with Telstar, educators and government leaders alike realized that the US had to develop a new generation of engineers and scientists,  and they didn’t have thirty years to do it.  The 1969 Apollo II moon landing marked an incredibly aggressive trajectory of project planning and educational focus that enabled US aerospace technology dominance while countless off-shoots sparked new industries – electronics, communications, medical and other instrumentation. 

“We don’t teach science like the others,” says Mr. Ro.  “Hands-on science, tinkering in the garage, that’s more than pure memorization.”  And it’s essential for the US’ next educational challenge.  When Steve Jobs informed the president that if he had had 30,000 manufacturing engineers he would have kept iPad production in the US, he wasn’t asking for 30,000 rocket scientists, he was begging for 30,000 competent and well-prepared engineers who could run a good factory and make great, high-quality product… the way we used to. 

Mr. Ro points to a liquid crystal, hands-on learning piece that just happens to demonstrate the same liquid crystal phenomenon that we’ve come to spend billions of dollars on, flat screen liquid crystal displays.  Small strips of “color cards” change color when the temperature changes, giving students a hands-on learning of the process that is inherent in the flat-screen industry.  These so-called “color cards” -  liquid crystal -   were included in the science curriculum kit for the Grade 5 module introduced to elementary schools in 1960s and called “energy sources.” 

This means that our kids had already have been exposed to the technology of the LCD and that they were playing and tinkering with the LCD as early as the 60s. This SCIS curriculum was funded by National Science Foundation (Science Curriculum Improvement Study) in the early 60s to improve science education in this country.

“And the result,” says Mr. Ro, “is the stunning success of our current inventors and creators of today’s tech world.  None of this could have happened if we were teaching science the old-fashioned way - reading about science - instead of hands-on learning.  Our children were exposed to hands-on inquiry learning early in their science education to become creative and innovative scientists of today! And we need to press on with the same vigor and urgency to prepare our future inventors and creators.”

Innovation Is Our Business

“Innovation,” says Mr. Ro, “is in our DNA.  You don’t need to be perfectly structured to come up with innovation. Hands-on science produces more than one answer.  We’re not a developing country, we’re an innovation factory, and we want tinkering!”  He tells the story of visiting Japanese executives who visited Microsoft headquarters early one morning and found nothing happening.  “Where are the engineers?”  they asked.  “Show us the scientists!”  “Not now,” they were told.  “But come back at midnight, actually 3 am is better,” and you will find them all here - working, dreaming, fixing.”  So the Japanese executives went back to their hotels to do email, and dutifully returned to the Microsoft campus at midnight where they were greeted by the soft glow of dozens of computer screens, and buzzes of activity around whiteboards and cubicles – workers working, dreaming, fixing, coding.  It’s a thing of beauty, and its US innovation, and we need to make sure we don’t give it away, the way we outsourced our manufacturing muscle.   The same way we unbolted the shoe machinery in Mr. Ro’s current brick mill and shipped it off to scrap heaps, or worse, Asia.

Mr. Ro likes to look at the chip industry to illustrate the beginnings, scaling up in 15 years from mastering chip production, to a level of repeatability that drove innovation in other fields.  Upon Mr. Ro’s return visit to Fairchild Semiconductor in South Korea thirty years after he emigrated, he found only 300 workers and dozens more machines.  The moral?  “Keep innovation and tinkering here!” he says.  Mr. Ro’s love of research and development enables him to work effectively with curriculum developers and the National Science Foundation, whose grants help create new and innovative ways of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) education in this country.