SAMSUNG is providing digital education solutions to make learning exciting and interesting for the young, and giving teachers a creative and efficient way to teach.
It’s Samsung Smart School initiative, to nurture the young via digital education, has supported over 3,200 schools around the world.
Providing a fun and interactive learning environment for more than 1.4 million children, it focuses on low income communities and uses IT technology in education to provide these communities access to smarter learning environments.
In collaboration with Samsung Smart School, Malaysia's first astrophysicist Datuk Dr. Mazlan Othman, is sharing her story in a short video.
She talks about her experiences that have shaped her into becoming the country’s first astrophysicist.
She was the first Malaysian woman to earn a PhD in physics at the University of Otago in New Zealand. Following her appointment as Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs in Vienna in 1999, she returned to Malaysia in 2002 to serve for five years as the founding director general of Angkasa, the Malaysian National Space Agency. Her work led to the launch of the first Malaysian astronaut, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor.
“Some people follow the rules, some people live by them. But I questioned every single one of them. It started in the 1960s, when there was plenty of things to do in science.But nobody here in Malaysia to do it,” she said.
Mazlan said as a student, she questioned everything and because no one knew the answers, it led her on a quest to learn and to understand the universe.
She also speaks about helping to launch the world’s first remote sensing satelite that orbited the equator and putting Malaysian on the map in space research.
However, her proudest moment is knowing that when she looks into every school, she knows that there are many students like herself in the classroom, who are inquisitive and want to know more.
“One day, they are going to discover even bigger things and do more than I could ever imagine,”.
Among the benefits of the initiative is that it closes the gap between communities and gives the underprivileged and poor students a change to benefit from digital technology.
In the classroom, students benefit from open communication and an engaging learning environment via real-time sharing using tablets and PCs.
Real-time sharing and monitoring through tablets and PCs enable open communications and engaging learning environments, while collaborative activities such as team activities, group assignments, and group discussions are supported seamlessly via tablets and help create a spirit of teamwork among students.
Teachers can measure students’ level of understanding and their performance in tests and quizzes. Teachers also provide individual learning opportunities when necessary.
Students can download the curriculum, textbooks and various materials (documents, photos, voice, recordings, videos, applications, and URLs) for each course, which ultimately help improve learning efficiency.
Besides the video featuring Mazlan, Samsung also presents “Little Pilot", a video which tells the story of a little girl who dreamt of becoming a pilot and found a way to realise her dreams.
The video highlights how the Samsung Smart School initiative can inculcate interest in science and technology among the young and inspire them to dream.
The initiative allows the untapped potential in each child as a change maker to be unlocked.
Using Samsung tablets and other gadgets and via its applications, will help to draw the interest of students in the areas of science and technology.
For more information on the Samsung Smart School initiative, and to view the videos, visit www.samsung.com/my/aboutsamsung/ sustainability/corporatecitizenship/ education/smart
Benefits of Samsung Smart School
- Closes the gap between communities
- Enables open communication and engaging learning environments via real-time sharing through tablets and PCs
- Seamlessly supports team activities, group assignments and group discussions via tablets
- Helps to create a spirit of teamwork among students
- Improves learning efficiency and allows students to download the curriculum, textbooks and various materials for each course