JEDDAH, 29 August 2006 — Innovation, creativity and discovery were the key words mouthed by enthusiastic young minds, proud parents and satisfied teachers at the first conference for the gifted youth.
The Regional Scientific Conference for Giftedness took off yesterday at the Jeddah Hilton Hotel under the title “Nurturing Giftedness: the Grounding of Bright Future” with the participation of hundreds of local and international experts in the field and many more teachers and parents from across the Kingdom.
Organized by the King Abdul Aziz & His Companions Foundation for the Gifted, the three-day conference aims at raising awareness by highlighting the latest international scientific findings in the field of giftedness. The foundation’s goals include supporting scientific innovation in the field of gifted education and nurturing future leaders.
Hundreds of men and women attended the conference that began with two opening sessions.
In the first, Dr. Abdullah Al-Nafea from the foundation spoke about the historical development of program for discovering the gifted and nurturing them in Saudi Arabia. Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, CEO of National Guard Health and President of King Saud Bin Abdul Aziz University for Health Sciences followed with a discussion about the challenges of raising and nurturing gifted children.
The second session was by three speakers from the King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz University for Science and Technology. The day continued with interesting scientific sessions, workshops, lectures and roundtable discussions that covered topics, such as the role of the public and private sectors, modern scientific concepts of creativity and ways of discovering the gifted.
Unfortunately, sound system in the women’s hall was not clear enough and the noise from side conversations by the women prevented many from enjoying and benefiting from many of the lectures.
Creativity Night took place in the evening, organized to allow the public to interact with the young gifted students to talk about their creations. The foundation also organized public exhibitions until tomorrow at different shopping centers for adult and young innovators to present their inventions.
Students and their supervisors stood proudly speaking about their projects at the exhibition. Eleventh grader Sundus Al-Hakamai and high school senior Anfal Hatha, both from Jeddah’s Dar Al-Fikr School, presented their toys that help visually impaired children learn words about animals and fruits by touch and sound.
“At the Ibsar Society for the Blind we met children and we wanted to do things that help them and entertain them too,” said Sundus. “They were so happy with the toys because when we checked at the malls, there weren’t any suitable for them,” said Anfal.
Ten-year-old Reem Al-Fakieh was shy but happy with her innovation of a remote controlled wastebasket. “I was sick and using lots of tissue paper and thought of a way to bring the wastebasket to me without moving from the bed. It can also help my mom and the street cleaners when they move around,” she said.
Eman Al-Qahtani, a senior student from the Alkhobar in the Eastern Province, won the contest with her classmates for best innovations. These included the “Magic Box” that creates visual illusions, and presentations on electromagnetic fields and steam power.
Eight high schools from Makkah participated in the Enrichment Program and presented their innovations, including an alarm clock for the deaf that releases bubbles that can be seen instead of an alarm that is heard.
“We had two categories: a free innovation of anything they wanted and the vibrating alarm for the deaf,” said their supervisor, Nadia Al-Khayyat.
Some of their free innovations included a TV remote control-finder, a glue holder, a combination of stapler and hole-puncher at the same time and other simple but useful tools.
The supervisor from Al-Geraiyat town, all the way at the northern border near Jordan, was excited in presenting the students’ creations.
“Thirty-four schools of all levels participated in the ‘Be Creative’ program,” said Hind Al-Abbas. “The idea of the program is a one-day course that teach creative thinking and allowing the students to come up with ideas to solve problems and implement those ideas.”
High school students enrolled in the Enrichment Program hosted by King Saud University in Riyadh and focused on environmental issues, such as pollution and extracting natural products from plants.
The students enrolled at Makkah’s Umm Al-Qura University program tackled the effects of rays and electromagnetic machines and designed posters and brochures that would help young children understand the concepts.
“There were four summer science programs conducted in four cities — Riyadh, Dammam, Makkah and Jeddah — for four weeks each,” said the foundation’s Samia Yunis.
Rowae Saleh designed the presentation for the research paper on the Enrichment Program created by Dr. Abdullah Al-Jeghaiman, director of the foundation and chairman of the organizing committee for the conference.
“It is a program that uses all means of creative thinking and skills and it’s appropriate for all levels. We hope that it will be implemented in all the schools to help discover the hidden talents we have,” she said.
