03-01-2018
Events of the Science Days Palestine (SDP) Festival 2017 and Science Films Festival have recently been concluded. Organised simultaneously over a whole month, both festivals were held in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Gaza Strip, Qalqiliya, Tulkarem, Jenin, Hebron, Bethlehem, Jericho, Bir Zeit, Nablus, Ni’lin, Al-Dhahiriya, and Beit Ur al Foqa.
In its 5th edition, the SDP Festival had its theme the Anthropocene age; i.e. human impact on earth. In the festival, visitors discovered scientific details of the phenomena of this age, including global warming and climate change, through interactive scientific experiments. These were specifically designed for this theme.
Teachers and students lead the SDP Festival
Since the beginning of 2017, a group of male and female teachers have participated in preparatory workshops, held under the supervision of researchers of the Educational Research and Development Programme (ERDP) of the A. M. Qattan Foundation (AMQF). Teachers discussed the activities they implemented in previous versions of the SDP Festivals, the questions they managed to raise to visitors, and the spaces they used.
Based on their experience, teachers organised a variety of activities, including interactive experiments, tinkering, science plays, field visits to science centres and museums, and environmental tours. The Science Café also hosted conversations on the Anthropocene theme.
The programme also included workshops, which engaged children in manufacturing scientific works using recycled materials. Children invented healthy alternatives to the tools they use every day at home.
The SDP Festival 2017 venue was not only limited to kindergartens, schools or closed areas. Many events were organised in public open spaces, such as the zoo in Qalqiliya and Gaza beach.
In each area, teachers had their own experiences, making success in collaboration with their students as well as with local institutions in local communities. For example, in Nablus, teacher Ahmed Tayyem coordinated the SDP Festival 2017 and worked with his colleagues, who were passionate about science in spite of their backgrounds in arts and humanities. Together, they implemented all relevant tasks, including media coverage, coordination, procurement, and training students in scientific experiments.
Tayyem stated: “I always talked to my friends about my love of the SDP Festival, especially my colleagues in the AMQF Drama Programme. Therefore, I found out that they were the first to join the team who implemented the events.” Tayyem also said that both students and teachers took the initiative and worked overtime as well as on school holidays to finalise preparations. They converted the Al-Kindi School Theatre into a space of interaction with science.
Tayyem described how the SDP Festival 2017 played the role of a bridge builder between the school and its alumni. Many years later, the school graduates came back to their Al-Kindi School and contributed to organising the SDP Festival.
In Qalqiliya, students led the SDP Festival 2017 events together with their teacher Manar Zeid. The group’s media spokesperson Hamsa Yaseen explained that tasks were distributed to students in line with their interests. Because she aspires to be a journalist, Hamsa chose to provide media coverage. In the festival, Hamsa was responsible for taking video footage and photographs to be posted on social media networks.
Mirvat Arouq, a teacher from Gaza, believed that the SDP Festival 2017 events contributed to raising public awareness about the human impact on earth. “We have taken science out of the space of closed classrooms and labs to the field, among the public. We organised ‘Together, let’s protect our environment’ event. We hope that this contributes to creating a new generation of research students, who use an investigative approach to dealing with and testing knowledge on the ground.”
All age groups
Launched in Palestine in 2013, the SDP Festival has attracted dozens of thousands of visitors over the past years.
The SDP Festival furnishes a chance to students of all age groups and their families to learn and experiment concepts of science in an interactive way. Nine kindergartens participate in the SDP Festival. In the context of the AMQF Professional Development Programme, early childhood educators at these kindergartens are involved in the festival.
Educator Tahani Ladadweh, who hosted the SDP Festival 2017 at the Al-Banan [Little Fingers] Kindergarten in Al-Mazra’a al-Qibliya for the first time, said that she was encouraged by the children who visited the festival together with their mothers, fathers, and grandmothers. It marked a step forward to disseminating a new culture of science in her village.
In a similar vein, the International Science Films Festival screened films on the Anthropocene age in all the areas where the SDP Festival 2017 was organised. Films were selected by an international committee with a focus on science, education and arts.
The SDP Festival 2017 was organised and funded by the Ramallah Municipality, Al Nayzak Organization for Supportive Education and Scientific Innovation, Goethe Institut, and Institut Français in partnership with several local schools and institutions.