2023-11-06 15:13:46
Among the finalists in the 10th edition of Samsung’s global corporate citizenship program, the prototype is already helping students who are hypersensitive to sound
Image for illustration purposes only
A group of three students from Escola Estadual Angelo Scarabucci, in Franca (SP), is competing in the 10th edition of Solve For Tomorrow Brasil, with a prototype to control the noise level in the classroom, in order to contribute to the development academic performance of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The team created a visual device that is activated when the noise volume reaches 85 decibels, alerting the class to reduce the noise, and enrolled it in Solve For Tomorrow Brasil, Samsung’s corporate citizenship program that is known for encouraging students and teachers of public education to create solutions to real demands of society using the STEM approach (acronym in English for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
The idea arose in the school’s elective course, in which students are encouraged to think regarding problem situations to create solutions through scientific initiation projects. In one of the monthly meetings with the supervising teachers of each class, one of the problematic issues was excessive noise, which compromises the students’ learning process. Knowing this, the three students responsible for the project also raised the impacts of this problem on students with autism and sound hypersensitivity.
“This is a project focused on health and diversity, as we are talking regarding an initiative that involved the entire class movement to identify and meet the individual needs of students with autism and hearing sensitivity. They have empathy for each other and show solidarity, to the point of creating a visual device that is applied in the classroom”, says Henrique Pereira, biology teacher and team advisor. “We carried out tests that lasted around six weeks and recorded a 35% reduction in noise in the room where the device was installed. Now the idea is to expand to other rooms.”
“The project developed by Franca’s students is directly related to health, but also to social issues, such as integration and diversity in the school environment. This is an initiative that inspires and moves us, as it shows how innovation and education, linked to empathy, can generate such positive and significant changes in people’s lives”, says Anna Karina Pinto, director of Corporate Marketing at Samsung Brazil. “This is a great example of a project that meets the objectives of Solve For Tomorrow, which seeks to develop students’ skills while promoting positive change in the world.”
“Working with projects at school, as proposed by Solve for Tomorrow, encourages a careful look at the territory, at the people who live there. This involves issues such as diversity, equity and well-being”, adds Beatriz Cortese, Executive Director of Cenpec, the organization responsible for the general coordination of the program in Brazil. “In this proposal from Franca’s team, we see this happening in practice, in connection with scientific practice and the content worked in the classroom.”
Currently in the mentoring stage, Henrique says that the process is being of great value as it brings an outside perspective to the project. Now, the team’s expectation is to further involve the school community in the initiative, especially other high school students, so that the device can also be applied in other classrooms. To this end, the group plans to develop an instruction manual with awareness strategies and information necessary for programming the equipment using the Arduino platform, in order to share knowledge and enable students from across the school to be able to develop the equipment. in your own way.
With several participations in Solve For Tomorrow Brasil, Henrique believes in the importance of the program to recognize the efforts of young students when entering the field of science and research. “With the development of these projects, we encourage students to take a leading role so that they observe their realities and feel capable of changing them in the community where they live. Furthermore, there is little interest among young people in doing research and science, but Solve For Tomorrow helps us plant this seed in them. In the future, these students may become researchers who solve even bigger problems in society. People talk a lot regarding the potential for transformation in education and this is my best example”, he concludes.
About Solve For Tomorrow
Solve For Tomorrow has been in Brazil since 2014 and, in the current edition, has a diverse program made up of webinars, workshops and mentoring to help participants achieve their goals by applying possible improvements to their projects. In total, the initiative has already involved 173 thousand students, more than 36 thousand teachers, and more than 6,600 public schools. And, in 2023, it recorded an increase of 50.92% in number of enrolled students, compared to the previous year. Click here to meet the ten finalists of the edition.
The Brazilian edition of Solve For Tomorrow has a network of partners, such as the representation in Brazil of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO in Brazil), the Latin American Network for Education (Reduca) and from the Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture in Brazil (OEI), in addition to the support of the National Council of Education Secretaries (Consed) and the general coordination of Cenpec.
To find out more regarding the program, visit https://solvefortomorrowbrasil.com.br/ or follow Solve For Tomorrow on social media. The initiative is present in Facebook, Instagram e YouTube.
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