Professor offers free innovation projects for children at home
Today, with schools closed due to the pandemic, children staying home, we see an opportunity to offer the same program to children across the world, to teach them to design and create things in a fun way. Every few days, we will publish a new design and fabrication challenge. These challenges are intended to introduce certain fundamentals of science through hands-on experience.
Prof. Rajesh Nair (Asia School of Business, Kuala Lumpur) created Zero2Maker program, a part of his Zero2Entrepreneur framework, to create innovators and entrepreneurs. The Z2M program for school and college students is designed to train them on ideation, creativity, technology, and presentation skills, and build their self-efficacy. These programs heavily utilized advanced tools like 3D printer and microcontrollers. To reach the majority of children in underserved communities, he introduced the Z2M-ZeroLab program. Here children learned to design and create things with materials and tools found at any home while learning the fundamentals of STEM. It was launched at Idar, Gujarat, India, and Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2018.
PROCESS
We will start with the first challenge on Force, Strength, and Structures.
Here are the steps to follow:
- Watch the video and read the document.
- Create your project within the restrictions mentioned
- Post pictures and a video of your project on the FB page with #Zero2Maker and #ZeroLab tags
- Please write a short note on what went wrong in your project, how you fixed it, and what you learned.
- Let others see what you have created.
Student As Mentor
Zero2maker initiative is designed to build a community of innovators and entrepreneurs. To this end, it is important to create mentors from the youth who can train others to create practical solutions to real-life problems. Mentoring improves their understanding of the subject, build self-confidence, and create lasting relationship among students. This “Student As Mentor” (SAM) program is designed to train the youth to be mentors and role models to others in their community, while they are building their skill set.
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