As part of the “Passion” project, scholarship holder Asja Hadžić and her group “Futures Brainstormers” were involved in organizing the Arduino workshop for high school students called “Smartuino”.
The workshops were also supported by the Foundation for the Future of BiH and were held in three cities – Živinice, Gradačac and Tuzla. The group “Futures Brainstormers” consists of 5 members who believe that practical knowledge in any branch of science is very important for education.
In our country, teaching is mainly based on theoretical learning, and we’ve experienced this in our schools. The lack of practical work prompted us to choose this topic for the theme of the “Passion” project.
This project aims to present the topic of “smart homes” to young high school students using the Arduino platform. Many of them had not had the opportunity to work with Arduino before.
Our solution is based on the use of simple electronics, mechanics, the basics of programming and the Arduino platform. Through interesting conversations and the application of various problem-solving techniques, we encouraged high school students to think creatively and innovatively use subjects in their daily lives.
For example, one of the activities they did with the workshop participants was to show them how to make a simple alarm system using sensors and speakers and how to connect it to a mobile phone via a wireless connection.
The great thing about our workshop is that it provided participants with a new way of learning. They experienced what it means to make your own device and how to modernize your home using simple electronics and things from everyday life. We want to share the technical knowledge we have acquired during our studies and perhaps motivate some of them to enroll in engineering or computer science.
The workshop participants were delighted and most of them stated that there is a lack of activities of this kind in their schools. Seeing their interest and their happiness because they have the opportunity to do and make something interesting themselves, as Asja states, is an indescribable feeling:
I hope that I’ve instilled the desire to try some of this at home in at least one of the students, or at least interested some of them in this branch of science. The mission and work of the Hastor Foundation motivate me every day to participate in such events, volunteer and pass on my knowledge to others. As a Hastor Foundation scholarship holder, I learned how to work with children and young people, how to benefit my community and society, and that the feeling when you help someone is indescribable. I sincerely hope to have the opportunity to be part of similar workshops in the future.
Congratulations to Asja on the organization and implementation of various projects so far and we wish her a lot of success in the future!
Prepared by: Nejla Komar
Translated by: Nejra Galijašević
