Mawlana Hazar Imam said in a speech at the Aga Khan University in Karachi in 2006 that, “Many observers describe this new world as the “Knowledge Society” - contrasting it with the Industrial Societies or the Agricultural Societies of the past. In this new era, the predominant source of influence will stem from information, intelligence and insight rather than physical power or natural resources”.
In the 21st century, in a world that is constantly changing, young people are encouraged to have an open mindset as well as a broad variety of career choices to pursue. One way to achieve this diversity is by experimenting and developing as many experiences as possible.
With this in mind, Aga Khan Education Boards from all over the world organized the first ever Global STEM Festival. In this inaugural online event, students such as Riaz Ali and Maria Ahmad had the chance to explore new concepts, develop their own projects, and share these with the global Jamat.
For 11-year-old Riaz, it was a great experience in which he built a volcano with the materials his family had at home.
“During my summer holidays, I had the opportunity to build my very own volcano. I have used the supplies that we use at home on a daily basis such as soap and vinegar and I got impressed that with just a few materials I could actually create the lava of the volcano. I gained confidence and feel ready to create any other project since I have developed my research and problem-solving skills”.
Although it was not the first STEM activity for six-year-old Maria, in the Festival she was able to test whether some items such as coins, cotton, a rock, a balloon and a straw would float when inserted in the water.
“This was my second science project with water and by doing this new experience I could not only strengthen my passion for the water world but also to understand and reflect on the reasons why each item floated or not. It was an amazing experience and I cannot wait to try it again with different items” she said.
In the STEM world, there is one particularly fast-growing area that is incredibly important, and will become even more so in the future. As Salman Khan, founder of the Khan Academy, once said: “To prepare humanity for the next 100 years, we need more of our children to learn computer programming skills, regardless of their future profession. Along with reading and writing, the ability to program is going to define what an educated person is.”
With the objective of developing, through programming, essential skills in children of the 21st century, such as logical thinking, complex problem-solving skills, creativity or critical thinking; the Aga Khan Education Board together with the Happy Code School has also organized two hackathons for the children and youth of our Jamat.
In the first hackathon, participants had the opportunity to learn how to work with the Construct 2 platform. They created their own game around the topic “What do I want to be when I grow up.”. Throughout this day, participants created games in pairs in order to promote teamwork skills and then tested and shared it with other participants, trainers, and parents at the end of the activity.
“It was the first time I ever tried coding and it was amazing. Everyone was very kind and the professor was very helpful. But for me the best part was when we split into groups and created our own minigame. I think we are entering an era where coding will be one of the most important things and this opportunity has made me want to try out different programming languages and gain new skills,” said 13-year-old Zeelain ul Haq Taj, one of the participants.
In the second hackathon, the participants learned how to code in Scratch. On this platform, each of the youngsters explored and developed their own games, creating something that meant something for them. At the end, words like "interesting", "amazing" and "fun" were used to characterize this experience throughout the day.
Computer programming is a creative way that allows people to combine interest in the arts and technology. Through programming, children acquire skills that improve their writing while having fun. Learning to program cultivates a child's creative capacity, as it requires the complete use of the brain to solve problems, and also awakens an innate desire to create.
As Bill Gates once said: “Learning to write programs stretches your mind, and helps you think better, creates a way of thinking about things that I think is helpful in all domains.”
For the Aga Khan Education Board for Portugal, these initiatives are just the starting point to help students gain new skills and, consequently, succeed in their future careers and lives.
