Sponsored by Anadarko Petroleum, DOW Chemical, and The Boeing Company, and launched with additional support from the U.S. Embassy in Algiers, the Algiers STEM center is an industry-led initiative aiming to strengthen the innovation, critical thinking, and communication skills of the Algerian workforce via direct training of youth, targeted teacher training, and community education forums and events.
Standing for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics, STEAM education is an interdisciplinary approach to learning where rigorous academic concepts are coupled with hands-on innovation. Students work on real-world problems in STEM fields, making connections between school, community, and the global world of work. Around the world, STEM programs are multiplying in number and impact as modern industry seeks young recruits who are ready and able to contribute to innovation in these fields.
Inaugurated in April 2016, the center is the first of its kind in Algeria. In the center’s first 16 months, staff and mentors (students in scientific fields at local universities) trained over 900 students, including 150 who regularly participate in specialized club activities. The center has also trained 25 teachers from across Algeria in interactive STEM teaching approaches, and sent a team of young tech enthusiasts to the US to participate in an international robotics competition in July 2017.
THE ALGIERS STEAM CENTER OFFERS:
- Weekly activities: Curiosity Machine, Hour of Code, Advanced Coding, Robotics, Advanced Robotics, Arduino, and Science Discovery;
- Targeted civic education training that links with future employability in STEM fields;
- Supplemental trainings in career planning and job search to prepare the young participants to be dynamic, motivated, and conscious recruits;
- Teaching methodology course for current and future STEM teachers;
- An annual interactive STEM Camp for students to dive deeper into STEM concepts.