With the first year of STEAM PalHouse activities coming to an end, the four schools participating in this project—Duma Secondary School for Girls in Hebron, Thabra Mixed Primary School in Bethlehem, Sumayya Bint al-Khayyat Basic School for Girls, and Kafr Dan High School for Girls in Jenin—successfully implemented four different exhibitions. The schools presented their final projects during these exhibitions and showcased their achievements and innovations throughout the year. They focused on finding creative solutions to environmental problems facing Palestinian society, based on local wisdom and a rich community experience, to confront climate change challenges and the scarcity of natural resources in Palestine.
According to the project’s Assistant Coordinator, Ms. Manar Jawabreh:
“At first, it was difficult for me to envision the achievement of these goals given the political and security situation and the ongoing challenges of education in Palestine. Therefore, I did not think that this project would receive much attention from the participating students or teachers, since they might consider the official curriculum as the main priority due to the witnessed challenges. However, with the modification of project activities in a way that accommodates the current situation and needs, our work was conducted effectively in different areas, and we started seeing the achievement of project objectives.”
In this exhibition, 40 students aged 12-16 years old completed 12 creative and innovative projects and presented them to their colleagues, families, and the local community. This included ways of solving the problem of flooding at Marj Sanur; automated irrigation systems; smart cultivation methods; and ways of benefiting from alternative and renewable energy. There were also projects to facilitate the movement of students with disabilities and their integration into schools, as well as projects focused on establishing an eco-friendly lifestyle and proper waste disposal. These projects were not merely scientific solutions, but, rather, an integrated educational experience—the fruit of a year-long learning and collective experience. This sought to enhance student capacities in critical thinking, collective action, and scientific innovation, as they developed and implemented creative projects that stimulate research, exploration, analysis, reflection, and free expression of opinion. This also enabled them to take initiatives related to learning.
Jawabreh points out that, in addition to the said exhibition, activities were conducted that directly and indirectly demonstrated the great impact of developing 21st-century skills among students. This included the student presentations of prototypes and the summer camp held in various schools and led by club students.
Jawabreh stated:
“These activities were largely successful. For example, the presentations enabled students to enhance their skills in public speaking and discussion, as well as accepting other people’s ideas and distribution of work. The students stood before an expert committee—as well as guests and other students—and shared with them the modus operandi of their projects. They also explained their methods of project development and final presentation and aimed to convince them of their project’s importance.”
Adding:
“Within the summer camp, students worked together to build the relevant events and activities over the course of five days. This included STEAM activities, survival skills, Arduino, recreational activities, environmental problem-solving activities, and others, with the assistance of facilitators. Students also divided the work among themselves and led the summer camp for 20 children in their school or village. This activity fostered their leadership capabilities and enhanced their skills in communication, thinking, and responsibility bearing.”
Jawabreh also stated that many teachers witnessed the club students building and leading a successful summer camp, which demonstrated a great sense of responsibility and leadership among them. Teachers also found that these acquired skills reflected positively on students during their time at school and inside classrooms. Many other students also expressed the desire to participate in this project after seeing its activities and impact on STEAM club students.
This project is a continuation of the A.M. Qattan Foundation’s STEAM Education activities, aimed at promoting education in the fields of science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. The project also provides great learning opportunities for students and teachers to collectively engage in a new experience of applied education, complimentary with formal education. This enables the achievement of sustainable development goals, enhances creativity and scientific thinking, and contributes to solving societal problems.
In this regard, Jawabreh added that:
“This project is vital for both students and teachers. In addition to the important formal education and curricula in schools (which increase student knowledge and academic abilities), it is important to have an informal track outside of traditional school education, to promote other skills and ways of thought among students. This is because merely focusing on academic achievement (“grades”) can seriously undermine a student’s preparedness for post-school life and does not give them the opportunity to experience new things that would help them discover their aspirations and develop their fields of interest. This is precisely the point of focus of the STEAM PalHouse project, as going “outside the norm” helps expand thinking horizons and improves personal skills. Consequently, a student’s “personal” development is integrated with their academic achievement, and the student becomes more aware of themself and empathizes more with others.”
The project’s activities were accompanied by field trips to Jenin, Hebron, and Bethlehem to learn about biodiversity in Palestine and discuss various environmental issues. The project also included specialized training workshops covering topics such as creative thinking, electronics (Arduino), sustainable agriculture, water purification methods, and organizing meetings with experts in different STEAM fields. In this respect, facilitators underlined the remarkable development in students’ personalities and their problem-solving abilities and reliance upon themselves. For example, a teacher asserted that: “The STEAM PalHouse program was a golden opportunity for students to understand environmental problems and employ sciences to find innovative solutions that serve the community.”
The project was launched through a series of well-planned steps, starting with training eight teachers as club facilitators. This was followed by forming clubs comprising 10 students, who, in turn, built the identity of their clubs and chose the preferred names and logos, thus enhancing team spirit and a sense of belonging to the project. “Design Thinking” sessions were also conducted, with emphasis on discovering local problems, developing ideas for implementable projects to tackle these problems, and initiating action.
Jawabreh concluded the meeting as such: “Due to the outstanding success of this project in its first year and its great sense of purpose, I am eagerly looking forward to the next two years. This project is expected to have a significant impact on the participating schools in the future.”
This project is in partnership with the Youth Thought Forum in Jenin and the Belgian Development Agency (Enabel), with joint funding from the Belgian government.