Doha: Qatar University’s Young Scientist Center (YSC) launched a summer course to encourage the creativity and scientific research skills for preparatory and primary students through the electronic platforms.
This step originated to follow the Center’s vision towards encouraging innovation among the Qatari youth, as innovation is one of the factors needed for the advancement and transformation of economy into an economy based on knowledge, research and development.
Also the Center’s aim was to invest the free time of the students during the summer vacation by providing a fun educational environment that inspires innovative thinking and creativity to adopt these ideas and develop them to be distinguished projects that mark Qatar as a leading centre for research and innovation and contribute in achieving the vision of Qatar 2030. As many as 40 male and female students participated in this course from seven different schools.
The female participating students were from North region schools as Al Daayen Preparatory and Primary Girls School, Al Shahaniya Preparatory School for Girls and Al Jamiliya School for girls and students from Al Arqam Academy for Girls and English Modern School.
The male participating students were from Al Kaaban Primary and Preparatory School for Boys and Al Shahaniya Preparatory School for Boys. The students showed great interaction during the workshop as they excelled in applying the daily challenges and implementation of the final design projects, which reflects what they learned during the course.
The students were excited with the course content and demanded an increase in the number of days of the course to enable them to acquire more skills and participate in other fun educational challenges. One of the students expressed her great admiration for the course, explaining, “The course was enjoyable and useful, and increased my interest in science.”
While Khamis Al Mansoori, a parent of one of the participating students, said, “The workshop had a great impact on my daughter in many aspects, such as organising time and taking advantage of the free time during vacation, also she practised teamwork and made new friends. It also promoted her desire for scientific research”.