In partnership with the Ramallah Municipality, the A. M. Qattan Foundation (AMQF) inaugurated the Science Studio at the Ramallah Recreational Complex (Al-Radana) on Sunday at noon. The Science Studio is a project of the AMQF Educational Research and Development Programme (ERDP).
The first of its kind in Palestine, the Science Studio is a unique space where interactive science exhibits enable both adult and young audiences to connect with a superb scientific experience.
Educators, exhibition designers, artists, scientists, engineers and technicians will be involved in Science Studio activities. They will engage in the brainstorming, designing, modelling and ultimately the manufacturing of the science exhibits.
The exhibits displays will harbour opportunities for visitors to learn about science through interactive processes based on extensive research, reflection and ongoing evaluation, and will travel to multiple spaces, including the AMQF new building, the Ni’lin Teacher Centre, public parks, kindergartens, etc. Exhibitions are accompanied by educational programmes that add to, intersect, and engage with school curriculum, enabling teachers to draw a link between exhibits and everyday education.
The Science Studio is a culmination of the Walid and Helen Kattan Science Education Project (WHK), begun six years ago by the ERDP, and aims to develop science learning in Palestine.
The Science Studio team includes a group of interactive science exhibit developers. Team members are of various scientific backgrounds, including architectural, mechanical, mechatronic and physic. Over two years, the team received focused training in collaboration with and through mutual visits by the Exploratorium: The Museum of Science, Art and Human Perception in San Francisco. In a pioneering step for Palestine and nearby regions, the Science Studio developed internationally but will be supported by a local team.
Engineer Musa Hadid, Mayor of the Ramallah Municipality, expressed his pleasure at inaugurating the project as a new qualitative contribution to Ramallah city in particular and Palestine in general. Hadid voiced his hope that the Science Studio be a hub of the Interactive Science Centre, a project that the Ramallah Municipality intends to unveil in the next years to serve all of Palestine. This centre will effectively contribute to teaching in interactive and simplified ways that help disseminate science culture.
Ziad Khalaf, AMQF Director General, stated: “The Science Studio is the culmination of six years of hard work, the entailed the accumulation of experiences and capacity building for the team. We are proud of our partnership with the Ramallah Municipality in this unique project in Palestine and the region. The Science Studio is the nucleus of an Interactive Science Centre that will develop science learning, research and critical thinking on the national level. In the years to come, we will work together to make this dream come true. We are confident that we will have the support of public sector institutions, the private sector, civil society organisations and donors to make this dream a reality.”
According to Wasim Kurdi, ERDP Director, “This project is significant because it is the outcome of the AMQF work in educational and cultural fields. Hence, it is the culmination of realistic experience in educational research as well as in formal and community education. The project is particularly distinctive because it builds on our previous experience. It has departed from, engaged with, criticised and drafted a renewed vision of this experience. In terms of its direct objectives and goals, the project has changed a great deal as a result of an incremental process. The Science Studio is now the essential, creative resource for producing adaptable exhibits all the time. The workshop is there and makers are there. They can build on the evaluations of effective and interactive exhibits. Today, the project looks forward to allow an opportunity for a community-wide, knowledge-based dialogue, which covers applied science, humanities, arts and technology in an integrated, innovative context.”
Dr. Nader Wahbeh, Science Studio Director, said: “The project is a culmination of the diligent efforts made by the AMQF to materialise its vision of integrated learning, which is grounded in the science and arts and combining intellectual and professional components. It centres on thinking, exploration, research and scientific application of ideas, using devices, machines and tools available in the Science Studio. Informed by research and fieldwork at schools, we believe that this project is vital for children in particular. With the aid of experts in the field, children will love to think ‘with their hands’ and create constructively.
The ERDP compiled a detailed study on the creation of an interactive science centre in Palestine in partnership with the Ramallah Municipality. The Science Studio is the hub of the Ramallah science centre in the near future.
The Science Studio is the outcome of a long-time research project. It aims to develop an investigative methodology and furnish learning opportunities to students, teachers and the public.