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Ailyn Agonia
Doha
EIGHTEEN schools from across the country showcased their projects tackling a wide range of topics during the iEARN-Qatar 2017 Open House hosted by Reach Out to Asia (ROTA) at the Qatar Foundation Student Centre on Monday.
The exhibition featured student projects on environmental initiatives such as gardening and studies on animals in Qatar, science works, education-related topics like developing writing skills, and other issues with global impact.
The iEARN (International Education and Resource Network) is a non-profit organisation active in more than 140 countries. It engages students and teachers in collaborative projects using the Internet and other new communications technologies. The initiative was brought by ROTA to Qatar in 2008. To date, about 116 schools in the country have been involved in iEARN Qatar.
"ROTA started this initiative in the country to improve the quality of school education in Qatar. The programme is centred on the pedagogy of project-based learning and involves students in meaningful projects linked to their curriculum while at the same time tackling issues of global importance. The motto of iEARN is learning with the world not just about it. So, while the students are working on their projects they are collaborating online with schools from 140 countries around the globe. In this exhibition, each project has been implemented for around 14 weeks by students and teachers in each participating school," said Anwar Abdul Baki, ICT for Education Manager at ROTA.
He stressed the impact of the global initiative in developing the 21st century skills of students of Qatar and thanked Qatar's Ministry of Education and Higher Education for supporting iEARN's programmes in local schools.
"The ministry started this year involving schools in primary and preparatory levels in the project-based learning pedagogy. This project is set to expand and grow bigger in the future," he added.
Commenting on the event, Emma Longstaff, a teacher in Cardiff International School, said:"It's good to see the students participating, meeting other students and presenting their respective works on behalf of the entire class. The students are happy to see people coming to look at their works. For our project, we studied Al Khor mangroves and how the ecosystem works. My class looked at food chain and animals in Qatar."
Nesma Mohammed Sherif, a teacher in Ibn Sin Model School for Boys, added:"Our project is mainly about encouraging students to write more. We have students from Grade 1 to Grade 4 in this project, which helps to build their self-confidence and be more open to talk about their hobbies, favourite food or toys and dream jobs."
Mohammed al Naama, senior fundraising representative at Education Above All, graced the event.
