Students flash victory signs on stage at TDF MagnifiScience Centre after their meeting with the media on Tuesday - Fahim Siddiqi / White Star
Boffins Share Fascinating Experiences at ‘Magical’ Nasa Camp
By Shazia Hasan
Karachi: The 24 primary school students, who attended Nasa’s Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama in the United States last month, returned to The Dawood Foundation (TDF) MagnifiScience Centre, the place from where the entire adventure had actually begun for them, to share their interesting experiences about coming up with science projects, taking part in competitions with other schools and their visit to the US with media here on Tuesday.
The students praised the management of the MagnifiScience Centre and the US Consulate General in Karachi who had collaborated with each other to promote and expand science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in Karachi’s 50 schools.
It was from the 50 schools that took part in a science project competition that the eventual three winning school teams of eight students each, emerged to finally travel to the US.
Tracing their journey, Haiqa Mubeen of KMA Girls and Boys Secondary School said that they had teachers who trained them to select a team for coming up with a project.
Haiqa’s school had come up with a very innovative project called ‘Chicken Feathers — Go Green before the Green Goes’. It was about manufacturing paper from chicken feathers.
“We thought about issues hurting our environment and thought about deforestation. Then we focused on why the trees are being cut and realized that one of the reasons this is happening is for making paper. As primary school children we understand the importance and need for paper, so we looked into ways of making paper. Our research told us about the possibility of paper being made out of chicken feathers, which no one was doing. But we did it,” said Haiqa.
Mohammad Tahir, also of KMA Girls and Boys Secondary School, shared some of their experiences at the space camp. “We learned about stars, galaxies. We were part of astronaut training activities such as moon walking, getting into the multi-axis or multi-chair trainer to experience no gravity and G-forces,” he said.
Mohammad Hadi of KMA Boys Secondary School, whose science project, the ‘Plastic-Road’ also got them into the competition winners, also spoke about how it was for them at the space camp. “It was a great experience. We were part of activities beyond our imagination and in doing so sometimes we felt like engineers, sometimes like software engineers, and even astronauts,” he said.
His schoolmate Amir Hussain cut in: “We studied about various US space missions. And so engrossed were we in the lectures that even a two-hour long lecture felt like it was over in five minutes. We realize now how time flies when you are really enjoying something,” he said.
Bismah Solangi, Aqsa and Muskan of Evergreen Elementary School, whose project ‘Anti-Sleep Glasses’ to prevent vehicle accidents caused by driver fatigue, also got them on the victory stand. They said they were really impressed by the way people teach in the US.
“The teachers there are so patient and encouraging,” said Bismah.
“The people there have no issues with admitting their fault and saying sorry even if they are older than you, which is nice,” said Aqsa.
Muskan also said that after studying and taking part in activities at the space camp for six days there was more fun in store for them when they were taken to Walmart for shopping.
The children informed that they were not the only ones there at the space camp. There were other children from China, Taiwan, Afghanistan, Africa and the United Kingdom as well. They made friends with many of them.
Rehan of Evergreen Elementary School informed that he even taught some of them Pakistani folk dances while they taught them their dances before they all danced together. They also picked up a bit of Spanish from some American kids while they learned Urdu from the Pakistani kids.
Rehan disclosed they exchanged gifts and souvenirs. “When I presented a friend from Taiwan 100 rupees note he gave me 100 Taiwan dollars in return, and I think I made some extra money there,” he laughed.
Earlier, Christoph S. Sprung, the director of the TDF MagnifiScience Centre, said that it felt great to see their year-long STEM program coming to an end.
“One year ago, we started conceptualizing the learning model for teachers, something so close to our hearts, with the motivation of the US Consulate. For six hours on six weekends, we demonstrated to teachers of 50 different schools of Karachi that there is a better way of engaging children, especially while teaching science.
“Then in the second phase of the program we had some 1,200 kids here from those schools working on their individual projects on the subject of sustainability. In the third phase, we had 36 teams. And then deciding on the winner brought up another difficult challenge. We thought it would be unfair to send just one school team to the space camp, so we selected three schools for the prize,” he said, while thanking his team at the Dawood Foundation, the US Consulate and all those who worked behind the scene to popularize science.
Lee McManis of the US Consulate in Karachi also said that the US gives value to creative-thinking skills and the development of those skills. He also spoke of the importance of art as he did of science education. Speaking about the US-Pakistan Green Alliance framework, he said that for the past two decades the US had partnered with Pakistan to pursue energy transformation through green technology to meet the climate, energy, water, and economic needs of the present and future. He said that the young students, who took part in the science projects competitions here, were also helping a lot in this regard as they were the science entrepreneurs of the future. - Dawn
The first season of the series on the life of the Madar-e-Millat will include the relationship between Quaid-i-Azam and Ruttanbai
The Fatima Jinnah Series Has a Gift for Us This August 14 — A Hauntingly Beautiful OST
Aur Digital is counting down to the release of its Fatima Jinnah series by releasing an OST on August 14 but unlike other OSTs, this one doesn’t have a big-name singer — or any singer at all.
Instead, the OST, composed by Estonia-based composer Shehryar Khan, will be the musical backdrop to the series and will feature an amplified lilt of the national anthem. After listening to the OST, we can say you’re in for a treat with this haunting yet beautiful composition worthy of being in a big-budget feature film. The OST will be released on the aur digital YouTube channel.
The music for the series is actually quite interesting — filmmaker Danial K Afzal told Images that they plan to recreate some Pakistani songs for the show à la Bridgerton. This includes a song by Nazia Hassan as well as a kalam.
Afzal said they hope to release the series on Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah’s birthday — July 31.
The series itself is about the life of Miss Jinnah. The three seasons will feature three different times of her life. The first season will have two volumes and 10 episodes, starting in 1910 and will include her brother, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, winning the first Muslim seat in Bombay, World War 1, the Lucknow Pact, the relationship between Mr Jinnah and his future wife Ruttanbai Petit, and the strained relationship Fatima Jinnah had with her future sister-in-law.
Sundas Farhan will play Fatima Jinnah in the first season. The third season’s Fatima Jinnah will be played by Samiya Mumtaz but the second iteration of the character is still being kept under wraps till her contract is signed, according to Afzal. Earlier, Sajal Aly was supposed to play the role.
Other stars in the show include Usman Mukhtar as Allama Iqbal and Sarmad Khoosat as Mahatma Gandhi. We don’t know their roles yet, but everyone’s favorite couple Manzar Sehbai and Samina Ahmed will be sharing a screen for the first time and Kubra Khan and Amna Ilyas will also play central roles in the series.
The actors playing the Quaid and Ruttanbai will be revealed when the OST is released on August 14. - Images
