Egypt

Since 2013, I’ve helped to design and refine Capstone projects in the curriculum of Egypt's new STEM Schools, including this one in 6th of October City.  While underclassmen were given more bounds to ensure their projects were better connected to their classes, seniors were permitted to pick any problem to solve as long as it involved communications.  At the end of their semester and poster/prototype exhibition, these young men were ready to celebrate their hard work! The other flagship school was an all-girls school, and I’ll share their work in a future blog. All of the ten-and-growing schools around the country since these flagship schools have been co-ed, and the network is picking up momentum in spite of the predictable growing pains. We worked directly with the Ministry of Education to co-design these schools rather than telling them how it should be done. That meant a better fit and a real sense of local ownership to help them get through the rough spots. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but the same basic design-centered approach done well creates custom solutions that are supported by research and locally owned.