DOHA: Qatar Foundation International (QFI) and its partners will host two pre-conference meetings focussed on cross-cultural collaboration in education ahead of the 2013 World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) at the Qatar National Convention Center (QNCC) in Doha.
The two pre-WISE conference meetings, scheduled here October 27 and 28 will assemble more than 50 international educators and leading experts from Qatar, Brazil and the United States, the QFI said Wednesday in a media statement.
The experts will explore how innovation and cross-cultural collaboration in education foster 21st century competencies and build better learning goals and practices.
Titled 'Global Educators' Workshop: Learning and Leading for the 21st Century and STEAM: Powering Creativity and Collaboration, the workshops will open with a joint session on October 27 at the QNCC featuring an array of speakers.
After two days of intensive workshops and discussions, participants will take part in the annual WISE Summit.
WISE 2013 brings together over 1,000 education stakeholders from more than 100 countries for three days of debates and sharing ideas for innovative solutions and creative action in education.
Commenting on the objectives, QFI Executive Director Maggie Mitchell Salem said, "The complementary alignment of WISE and QFI's missions ensuring students have the skills they will need to work together on the myriad of global challenges they'll face highlights the critical nature of innovation in education."
WISE is an acknowledged global platform for educators, officials, academics and concerned citizens to convene and collaborate.
There is no better setting for QFI to host education experts and school leaders for STE(A)M - STEM integrating the arts and 21st century skill-building workshops, she said.
The Global Educators' Workshop, hosted in cooperation with the Supreme Education Council of Qatar (SEC).
Convenes 30 select principals and vice principals from local Qatari schools with 12 of their counterparts from schools across the US and Brazil.
Focused on one of the sub-themes of the WISE Summit 'Leading and Learning for the 21st Century,' participants at the workshop will design an international learning community that promotes concrete collaborations between schools through the design and implementation of cross-cultural educational projects.
The first of many, this meeting will strengthen and expand a global school network, providing a platform for collaboration, professional development and knowledge-sharing among academic leaders.
Concurrently with this workshop, the QFI will host 'STEAM: Powering Creativity and Collaboration' in partnership with the New York Academy of Sciences.
The meeting is a two-day roundtable focused on the multidisciplinary field of study that reunites STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math with the Arts.
Convening leading international experts in the STEAM subject areas along with organizational leaders and practitioners, the roundtable will discuss approaches, methodologies, guidelines and example programs of successful STEAM projects and curricula.
QFI’s STEAM Programme Head Lobna Hassairi said, "With representatives from NASA, the National Research Foundation of South Africa, the Smithsonian Institution, the American University of Beirut, Qatar University, Qatar Museums Authority, Qatar Foundation, and others, this will be a truly global assembly.
"We are excited to explore STEAM in practice and learn how schools around the world can use interdisciplinary approaches to energize learning, promote 21st century skills, and provide opportunities for hands-on learning in and out of the classroom."
Together, the pre-WISE Summit meetings offer an opportunity for practitioners from Qatar to work directly with their counterparts in the US and Brazil and to build a foundation for future networking and knowledge-sharing.
Most importantly, they will strive to exemplify how cross-cultural collaboration can act as the driving force for innovation in education, the QFI said. (QNA)
