In an ever-changing, increasingly com- plex world, it’s imperative that our students are equipped with knowledge and skills to solve problems, make sense of scattered information, and know how to gather and evaluate evi- dence to make decisions. It is extreme- ly important to foster a student com- munity that can understand and solve the complex challenges of today and tomorrow.
GEMS Our Own Indian School (OIS) understands the need to provide
high-quality STEM education for all young people from kindergarten to higher education. All of our pro- grammes are examples for an inter-
In an ever-changing, increasingly com- plex world, it’s imperative that our students are equipped with knowledge and skills to solve problems, make sense of scattered information, and know how to gather and evaluate evi- dence to make decisions. It is extreme- ly important to foster a student com- munity that can understand and solve the complex challenges of today and tomorrow.
GEMS Our Own Indian School (OIS) understands the need to provide
high-quality STEM education for all young people from kindergarten to higher education. All of our pro- grammes are examples for an inter-
In an ever-changing, increasingly com- plex world, it’s imperative that our students are equipped with knowledge and skills to solve problems, make sense of scattered information, and know how to gather and evaluate evi- dence to make decisions. It is extreme- ly important to foster a student com- munity that can understand and solve the complex challenges of today and tomorrow.
GEMS Our Own Indian School (OIS) understands the need to provide
high-quality STEM education for all young people from kindergarten to higher education. All of our pro- grammes are examples for an inter-students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period to in- vestigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, prob- lem, or challenge.
The project was initiated to give stu- dents a learning experience to develop 21st-century learning skills – Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Creativi-
ty Communication, Citizenship and Character. Without question, this ini- tiative has helped students to be part of design thinking and understand SDG goals.
It has given students not only an op- portunity to unleash their creative energy, but also to work as a team and learn about the world around them and be able to make their own contribu- tions to various arts and sciences.
Through inquiry or problem-based learning, children are able to partic- ipate in multi-dimensional projects that reinforces their conceptual un- derstanding of technology as well as its application. Students assimilate and retain knowledge of concepts in a con- crete manner when they make some- thing with their own hands.
Making interdisciplinary connections also helps students understand how everything is connected and make real life connections. This in turn, invig- orates and motivates them to further investigate and sharpen their inquiring minds.
The school proudly hosted the third Edition of Project@2020 on Thursday, 17th November 2022 at the GEMS Our Own Indian School Hall. This year the focus was on the 17 sustainable goals set by the UN, wherein students were asked to come up with innovative solu- tions to real-world problems. Some of the driving questions this year were:
“How can we use artiflcial intelligence to create a system that can detect heart attacks for a global audience?”
“How can we protect our aquatic crea- tures and make the ocean life sustainable?”
The school proudly hosted the third Edition of Project@2020 on Thursday, 17th November 2022 at the GEMS Our Own Indian School Hall. This year the focus was on the 17 sustainable goals set by the UN, wherein students were asked to come up with innovative solu- tions to real-world problems. Some of the driving questions this year were:
“How can we use artiflcial intelligence to create a system that can detect heart attacks for a global audience?”
“How can we protect our aquatic crea- tures and make the ocean life sustainable?”
This organization drives the school in its STEM initiative and oversees our STEM activities with the support of KG, primary, middle, and senior school innovation coordinators.
STEM Lab
The STEM curriculum at OIS school is noted for its blended learning environ- ment and showing students how
the scientific method can be applied in everyday life. It teaches students com- putational thinking and focuses on the real-world applications of problem- solving.
In alignment with the vision of devel- oping 21st century learners, the school has set up two STEM labs. The labs are places where students can explore, ex- periment, tinker, innovate and create. The labs are equipped with 3D print- ers, Arduino processor kit, bolt iot kit, Lego, mechanical structure, cortex and a slew of other devices for prototyping. The labs serve the purpose of teaching primary and middle school students STEM related topics through the inte- grated curriculum.
The curriculum is designed in a way that the students keep learning in a hierarchical order. For instance in low- er primary, students are introduced to block based coding for creating inter- est; in Upper primary and early Middle school, flowchart and algorithm is introduced where they understand the basic logic behind coding. In Middle school students are also introduced to fundamentals of Python script based coding. The passion and knowledge gained is taken forward by senior school students who try different proj- ects based on Python.
Senior students are actively engaged
in AI projects like Drug detectors, AI student attendance and monitoring, face mask detector and AI based traffic controllers for examples. Similarly, stu- dents are also introduced to 3D design- ing, VR coding, gaming application where rather than following prescribed steps, students explore the range of topics that fascinate them.
Students are introduced to Mechanics, starting with the basics where they understand the mechanical structure in real time, like the usage of struts and eventually learn to create any structure of their desire. The same goes with electronics where they start from resis- tor and eventually learn to use Arduino
/Raspberry Pi.
Mirai Estrellas – STEAM club
“Mirai Estrellas” is the name of the STEAM club of GEMS Our Own Indi- an School. The club is solely formed by the students for themselves, with the main goal to help and improve learning skills.
All club activities are run bi-weekly, with already more than 85 students attending regularly. The club is open for all students between 5th and 12th grade and is supported by all members of the school, both corporates, and school alumni, alongside senior stu- dents.
“Mirai Estrellas” members participate in various competitions throughout the school year and learn and help others gain knowledge on various subjects.
Ms. Arsha Bhooshan, the Innovation Coordinator at GEMS OIS, is currently managing the club activities along with the help of the student representatives of the club. Event Organizer: Vaibhav Iyer Grade 9, Captain : Khadeeja Amra Grade 9, President: Nihar Gandhi and Shannen Godinho Grade 12 and Vice President: Samuel Mathew and Dha- nusree Suresh Grade 11.
Our students have always been very enthusiastic in participating in various competitions to challenge their knowl- edge and grow. Students have partici- pated in many competitions like Solar car making, Drone Making challenge, Aircraft landing challenges, 3D design hackathon, Coding Hackathon.
Some of our big wins this year were:
“Teens Next Big Idea” 2022, a chal- lenge to build a drone for practical application. The school’s team built a trash-collecting drone that will be using electromagnets to pick up metal trash from a public place to keep the environment safe.
Class X received the meritorious 1st position, along with a scholarship at Stock Trak – the 2nd International High
School Trading Competition an initia- tive of Rochester Institute of Technology of Dubai.
Class X received the meritorious 1st position, along with a scholarship at Stock Trak – the 2nd International High Our student’s design was selected to be 3D printed and displayed in Expo2020 through Young Innovators UAE com- petition.
Class X received the meritorious 1st position, along with a scholarship at Stock Trak – the 2nd International High In the year 2022 we rep-resented UAE in I Can international Summit,
where students from 20 different coun- tries bring the ideas that students have implemented which bring a change around them, held in Malaysia.
Additionally, members have actively participated in the K-12 Design Chal- lenge, organized by Drone In Schools, in association with Autodesk. One of our primary school students, Nikhil Girish, won the K-12 Design Challenge 2021-22 in Jr. Aircraft Designing cate- gory.
By integrating STEM in our curricu- lum, we inspire and prepare our stu- dents to accel into a future that is certain to be bright.
By Arsha Bhooshan
School Innovation Coordinator
