In partnership with Salim bin Mahfouz Philanthropy Foundation, Talemia Company for Educational Services conducted a course over the last week to qualify some trainers for the school STEM centers in a number of Jeddah schools. This course comes out of the partnership and social responsibility program between the two sides, under the supervision of the Ministry of Education, to find and support school STEM centers. In fact, it is a modern scientific approach to link science, technology, engineering and mathematics with one another. The partnership program will maintain supporting the scientific centers in four other schools in the Jazan region later on this year.
The course was conducted at Jeddah Science Center for the benefit of three schools (Riyadh Al-Quran Private School, Al-Faisaliah School for the Talented and the School of the Talented Females). The course comprised 30 training hours, where the training sessions implemented the STEM approach and the educational toolkits applications in eight (8) scientific areas (space and aeronautics, biosciences and environment, industrial chemicals and nanotechnology, computer science, electronics, engineering and math, physics applications and robot). The course aims to train and prepare teachers on how to utilize and implement the educational toolkits at the school STEM centers. The participants have received certificates from Mr. Yahya Al-Qahatani, the General Director deputy of the Educational Affairs in Jeddah.
The science centers will be supported by the school STEM centers through setting up science corners at that schools that are considered Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and have an integrated infrastructure to implement STEM. The science centers are targeting the students of early education and public education who are 6-18 years old. 1400 students will benefit from this project during the period that extends from October 2016 to May 2017. The program aims to enhance the student’s scientific capacities and improve his academic performance in the scientific subject matters. It also focuses on technology and innovation, which enriches the school with useful experiences in addition to stimulating the learning environment and supporting the school curriculum, which is linked to the learner’s real life including prompting the professional competences of teachers and supervisors.
The science centers are regarded as one of the strategic projects at Talemia, where the company is working on building advanced, productive and attractive educational facilities that link formal education to non-formal education through learning by the STEM approach, where the teaching and learning programs and activities are designed in accordance with the latest standards to support and achieve the educational goals.
