“A Journey of a Question” is an annual initiative that aims to train students aged 9-17 on research and inquiry skills through the participation in a writing contest, which would produce a book about the students’ inquiries, and their journeys to find answers, under the supervision of trained facilitators and a board of jury to assess their ‘writing-artifacts’.
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About the Initiative
A national ICT-based annual initiative that aims to teach students aged 9-17 throughout Egyptian territory the most crucial set of 21st-century skills, such as research, creativity, and problem-solving skills, through participation in a writing contest. Volunteer facilitators will guide and support participants throughout the research and writing process. Participants’ narratives will be ultimately assessed by juries and award-winning narratives will be published in a book.
Target Group
Students within Egypt between 9 and 17 years, in addition to their parents and guardians as well as organizations working with children and youth of that age range.
- Participating children: Age 9-17 (equivalent to grade 4 and up to grade 10). Participants will be divided into two categories 9-12 and then 13-17.
- Facilitators: will be university graduates who have some experience volunteering or working as facilitators and who have experience conducting research.
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The Mission
Providing some alternative for the continuation of learning during times of Covid-19. However, the initiative aims, also to contribute to educational reform processes by supporting efforts to shift teaching strategies towards inquiry-based and project-based learning. Moreover, shifting children’s and parents’ perceptions related to ‘learning’, its resources and scope. Enabling children to reach their upmost potentials and enabling them to compete in an ever changing environment by equipping them with creativity, problem-solving, and communication skills and helping them to grow as independent self-learners.
How to participate in this initiative
- Participants are asked to register by filling out the initiative’s application.
- Each participant will identify one question that s/he would like to find its answer to and record his journey towards the answer.
- Participants are vetted, and approved participants will be informed.
- Participants will be divided into groups.
- An introductory session will be held for all facilitators to identify work process and monitoring strategies.
- Facilitators will communicate with participants, at least once every second week to help them throughout their inquiry-journey, and will monitor and support the participants in crafting their writing-artifact.
- A proofreading committee will provide editing assistantship.
- Writing-artifacts will be sent to the jury board for assessment.
- Announcement of winning participants.
- Winning writing artifacts will be presented to sponsoring publishing houses and to the supporting organizations to start publishing the children’s books.
Nature of Inquiries:
The inquiries will be of a conceptual, analytic nature, reflecting the students’ curiosity and desire to discover a practice, concept, or a phenomenon that is uncovered or new to him/her. Some examples might include:
- Why don’t little boys have a mustache?
- Why is the earth round?
- Do the stars fall down or do they stay forever in the sky?
- Are there in our world elves, or do they only belong to fairy tales?
Writing Style
The participants narrative should express the process of reaching an answer to their inquiry. This would include:
- How did they think about the question?
- What triggered them to ask the question? Was there a specific event or incidence that led to their inquiry?
- How did s/he go about to find an answer to the question
- What have been their challenges while trying to find an answer to the question
- What did he find out during his journey to find an answer?
- What did s/he learn? What would s/he like to learn in the future?
- What is the relationship between what he found out (his answer) and his daily life? Does it impact him/her in any way?
the participants
Rationale behind this initiative
There is a clear necessity to have programs and initiatives that tackle the gap between the urgently needed research, inquiry and self-learning skills, the enhancement of literacy, communication skill, especially after the call of the MoE to assess students through research-based assessments and the outcoming observations that there is a clear lack of research capabilities, total lack of independent self-learning capabilities and the understanding of techniques related to problem solving and data collection, and additionally the lack of skills related to written communication. It is believed that this initiative comes timely to reform some of the teaching techniques that have been for too long been based on teacher-centered strategies, by introducing inquiry-and project-based learning techniques.
Awards
First Place:
700 Egyptian Pounds + an in-kind gift + subscription in the Noori Application + Book: A learning journey from EducQuest + Certificate
Second Place:
500 Egyptian Pounds + + an in-kind gift + subscription in the Noori Application + Book: A learning journey from EducQuest + Certificate
Third Place:
300 Egyptian Pounds + + an in-kind gifts + subscription in the Noori Application + Book: A learning journey from EducQuest + Certificate
Fourth up to the tenth Place:
An in-kind gift + subscription in the Noori Application + Book: A learning journey from EducQuest + Certificate
Tenth up to the twentieth place:
Book: A learning journey from EducQuest + Certificate
Phases
Registration Phase: participants register their names and provide all necessary contact information. Moreover, participants decide on the question they would like to tackle during their ‘Inquiry Journey’.
Support and Facilitation Phase: facilitators guide the participants and provide them with advice and tips about how to engage in research processes, how to collect data, and guides them with appropriate inquiry-based tools and techniques to find an answer for their question.
Assessment and Award Granting Phase: Occurs one month after the research phase has ended. During this phase, the jury board assesses the according to set standards in order to grant the awards. Pictures that have been created by children to accompany their stories will be assessed by refined by students or graduates of Art Schools to be used as book coverpage.
The Board of Jury
Head of Literature Publications at Nahdet Misr Publishing House and well-known children novelist.
Novelist and theatre play-writer and author of children novels.
Poet and author of children novels – Editor-in-Chief of Sanabul Children Magazine
Dr. Mohamed Sayed AbdulTawaab – University Professor and Head of Children Publications at Nahdet Misr
Mrs. Hegra al Sawi – Novelist and Theatre playwriter – Ex-General Manager of ‘Bizra’ Magazine for Children
Sponsors
Initiative’s Team
Education Consultant
Project manager
Education Consultant
Technical management
Asmaa Emara
General Manager
Communication & Advocacy
Riham Medhat
