Today, Boeing and INJAZ Qatar celebrated the successful launch of a new science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education program at Newton Group of Schools in Doha, Qatar. The hands-on program for 8 to 11 year old students (grades three to five) was designed by Technovation, a global technology education nonprofit that Boeing has been working with since 2016. This initiative is in line with the emphasis the Ministry of Education and Higher Education has placed on the importance of STEM learning.

H.E. Sheikha Hanadi bint Nasser Al Thani, chairperson of INJAZ Qatar and INJAZ Al Arab, and Bernard Dunn, president of Boeing Middle East, North Africa and Turkey, attended the launch ceremony and witnessed the program implementation throughout the classrooms of Newton International School.

H.E. Sheikha Hanadi commented: “We are very pleased with our partnership with Boeing MENA, which has been steadily growing over the past 10 years. The “Curiosity Machine” program is the latest offering in the field of work readiness, one of INJAZ’s three key pillars. We must prepare today’s youth for tomorrow’s jobs, and STEM education is the ideal platform to reach that objective. We believe that offering such programs meets the country’s increasing demand for youth job-readiness education, which is a crucial element of human development being a key objective of Qatar’s National Vision 2030"

Bernard Dunn added: “It’s hugely fulfilling for Boeing to see the kind of forward-thinking attitude at play in the classrooms here at Newton International School. Our strong partnership with INJAZ Qatar is based on our mutual commitment to empower the next generation of STEM leaders in Qatar.”

Boeing facilitated trainers from Technovation, headquartered in the United States, to fly to Qatar to train grade three to five teachers in mid-September. The training included access to the Curiosity Machine curriculum which is AI-based incorporating several Boeing-inspired challenges, training modules, workbooks, and lesson plans. The teachers are now implementing the curriculum and challenges into their classrooms.

Barbara Cotter - ICT Teacher and "Curiosity Machine" teacher and project coordinator, at Newton International School said, “This program is incredibly engaging and fun for the students. In just a few weeks, they were solving complex problems, collaborating and communicating with each other effectively. I see first-hand how this program is developing their creativity and curiosity in engineering.”

Some of the engineering design challenges that the students are completing include, building a self-driving car game; engineering an exoskeleton of a wearable device that detects body movement; building a box they only know how to open and is safe from hackers; and engineering a safe stopping robot that turns itself off when leaving a safe area.

Source: Press release

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Binu Cherian

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