{"id":9737,"date":"2022-05-22T17:01:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-22T12:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mirchmasala.tv\/?p=9737"},"modified":"2022-05-25T17:03:08","modified_gmt":"2022-05-25T12:03:08","slug":"tech-integrated-books-level-up-learning-and-stimulate-creativity-say-childrens-educators-at-13th-sharjah-childrens-reading-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mirchmasala.tv\/2022\/05\/22\/tech-integrated-books-level-up-learning-and-stimulate-creativity-say-childrens-educators-at-13th-sharjah-childrens-reading-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Tech-integrated books level up learning and stimulate creativity, say children\u2019s educators at 13th Sharjah Children\u2019s Reading Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Three children\u2019s educators have highlighted the importance of blending science and technology in children\u2019s books to encourage learning with passion at an insightful discussion titled \u2018Pages of Science\u2019, held at the 13th<\/sup> Sharjah Children\u2019s Reading Festival (SCRF) at Expo Centre Sharjah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Award-winning STEM-friendly picture books author, Shanda McCloskey, children\u2019s book writer Dr. Fadia Daas, and Emirati poet and novelist Asmaa al-Zarouni, discussed how books integrated with modern teaching methodologies stimulate creativity during a panel session moderated by Layla Mohammed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs an author I must have researched as many as 10 publishing houses that, between 1975 and 2022, released over 2,800 titles. Of these, only about 330 have specialised in sciences and almost half of them have been translated into Arabic,\u201d said Dr. Fadia Daas, a former early childhood educator-turned-children\u2019s author.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stating that books enhance scientific imagination in only \u201cabout eight out of every 100 children\u201d in her conservative estimate, she continued: \u201cWe must use the architecture of imagination more in physical books to encourage children to treasure the book in their hands.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The panel also discussed at length the idea of imagineering<\/em> (a blend of “imagination” and “engineering”) and how new age paper books must implement creative ideas in a more practical form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think children are good imitators of adults and so we must set examples for them by making the experience more visual and more absorbing because modern childhood is one where technology plays a pivotal role. As writers, we must attempt to enhance their scientific imagination through modern technology to encourage them to read more,\u201d said Al Zarooni, adding that children begin to develop a strong sense of scientific imagination between the ages of nine and 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debating on the importance of physical books versus eBooks, former high-school art teacher McCloskey chose to take the middle path, calling both \u201ctwo different art forms that offer two different kinds of experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elaborating how reading a bedtime book couldn\u2019t be compared to what flipping through an e-book does, and vice versa, the mother of two added: \u201cThe secret case covers on my book, for example, cannot be replicated digitally while many things that a digital book does – including sounds and visuals – cannot be reproduced on the pages of a physical book.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cImagineering requires us to explore new frontiers to create books worth treasuring \u2013 we cannot set limits,\u201d added the writer and illustrator while urging the audience to refrain from demonising technology. \u201cThat is the reality of the young generation and just because its different from what we may have experienced, it doesn\u2019t make it worse or better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three children\u2019s educators have highlighted the importance of blending science and technology in children\u2019s books to encourage learning with passion at an insightful discussion titled \u2018Pages of Science\u2019, held at the 13th Sharjah Children\u2019s Reading Festival (SCRF) at Expo Centre Sharjah. Award-winning STEM-friendly picture books author, Shanda McCloskey, children\u2019s book writer Dr. Fadia Daas, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[181],"tags":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mirchmasala.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9737"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mirchmasala.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mirchmasala.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mirchmasala.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mirchmasala.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9737"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mirchmasala.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9739,"href":"https:\/\/mirchmasala.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9737\/revisions\/9739"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mirchmasala.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mirchmasala.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mirchmasala.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mirchmasala.tv\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}