by: ArabianBusiness:
As many as 2,299 students from five Innoventures Education schools take part in a five-day camp where they were mentored by NASA astronauts and scientists The UAE had made its ambitious plans for space exploration very clear in recent years, and the schools in the country are now getting behind the government’s clarion call.
Recently, thousands of students from Innoventures Education schools got together to rewrite the Guinness record for ‘the world’s largest space exploration lesson across multiple venues.
As many as 2,299 Dubai students, representing 108 nationalities from Dubai International Academy Emirates Hills, Dubai International Academy Al Barsha, Raffles World Academy, Raffles International School and Collegiate International School, joined the lesson from their classrooms.
The students were mentored by several celebrated names in space exploration and science, including Commander Susan Kilrain, a veteran astronaut who has been part of two space shuttle flights; Dr Michaela Musilova, an astrobiologist, analogue astronaut and writer; Joel Gilmore, professional science communicator; Michael Holmstrom, CEO and Co-Founder STEM Punks Ventures and Damien Aldridge, Education Director of STEM Punks.
This unique lesson took place during Space Camp 2101, for which Innoventures Education partnered with the award-winning company, Starlight Education. Students aged 12 to 18 years were offered the unique opportunity to design a sustainable habitat together with real astronauts and high-achieving scientists from around the world.
During the lesson, the students applied design thinking skills and created their own Opportunity-and Perseverance-like Mars rovers. This was evaluated by their peer, and the students will prepare to prototype their designs.
The students also discussed issues like once humans arrive on Mars, what kinds of jobs will the rovers need to do? Would they do more exploring? Or building, transportation, and mining instead? What would they look like so they can perform these jobs?
Poonam Bhojani, the CEO, of Innoventures Education, said: “Innoventures Education has always believed in providing world-class education. Bringing NASA astronauts and world-renowned scientists to Dubai to mentor our students is aligned with that vision.
“We are so proud of all our students who participated in this record-breaking lesson; and we hope it has been a memorable, enriching learning experience.”
Hitesh Bhagat, the principal, of Dubai International Academy Emirates Hills, added: “We are so excited to see our students enter the record books with a truly incredible achievement. As educationists, we can hope that being mentored by world-renowned achievers will also inspire our students to reach for the stars. Our intention with this initiative was to create an immersive and experiential learning environment for our students.”
The five-day-long Space 2011 was held at Dubai International Academy Al Barsha.
TAGGED:Astronauts, Dubai International Academy Al Barsha, Dubai International Academy Emirates Hills, Dubai Schools, Guinness World Record, Innoventures Education, Raffles World Academy, Space Camp 2101, Space Exploration, Student In Dubai, UAE
