A school in the United Arab Emirates have launched a one-of-its-kind space exploration venture in the area, where students had the special chance to upload their coded experiments straight to the International Space Station (ISS).
This follows a partnership between Quest4Excellence, a Silicon Valley education company working closely with NASA and The Wellspring School (a LifePlus International School) in Ras-al-Khaimah.
In a Space Education training programme called as ISS Quester workshops, conducted in the school by an American company, students coded messages to send them to the BIMO, a robot on the ISS that shows the student’s pictures and messages.
This is under the institution’s commitment to bring creativity and innovation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) to its pupils.
LifePlus CEO Martin Klopper stated that the initiative aligns 100% with the strategic priorities of the educational sector as the country strives to position itself as a major worldwide player in space exploration.
It further represents the ongoing desire of His Highness Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi to enhance the quality of education in Ras Al Khaimah and to give opportunities for innovation and creativity in the delivery of teaching STEM subjects to pupils.
This effort strives to provide students with a hands-on project-based learning experience that will worsen their knowledge of project and group work, basic engineering skills, computer coding, project planning and execution against real-world conditions.
From the next academic session, the school plans to provide more of ISS Quester workshops as the initial step in STEM programme development.
Students will get an opportunity to join the ISS Inspiration Station (Level 1)as an after-school activity for class 4 – 12 students.
Furthermore, higher, middle and high school pupils will have the standards to enter ISS Space Program Apprentice (Level 2) as a STEM elective within their weekly schedule.
The WellSpring Head of School, Jeff Kingma, said that the chance to collaborate with a highly esteemed education company from the US will open new educational doors in the UAE and will highly benefit students.