The graduates of Zayed University will provide UAE teachers with a new teaching methodology through their capstone projects.
The projects created by the students of the College of Education will be distributed in the classrooms to teachers nationwide.
These will provide them with new tools to support the teaching methodology, said a faculty member.
Seventeen students about to graduate will present their projects during this exam week, a requirement for graduation.
Two yesterday presented their works during a ceremony attended by Dr Ali Abdul Aziz Al Sharhan, Minister of Education and Youth; Dr Hanif Hassan, Vice President of Zayed University; and Mohammed Al Dhahiri, Director of the Abu Dhabi Educational Zone, and a number of staff members and guests.
The students have produced an interactive teaching unit in a variety of electronic and hard copy formats.
The unit, whose initial format will be computer-based and composed in English, is suitable for teachers in government or private schools teaching students from kindergarten to secondary level.
Dr Toni Briegel, a faculty member, said: "The students have created projects which are not only useful for them if they become teachers, but also for others in the UAE.
"As our library of capstone units is growing, we hope to provide a strong resource in teaching methodology to help teachers teach the students better than before."
Briegel added many people can benefit from it. The project is aimed at evaluating ability of the students in web page production, use of computer graphics and knowledge of teaching and curriculum design.
Each one is required to exhibit her ability to synthesise, integrate and apply her knowledge and skills to produce a research or creative capstone project in a major field.
This semester the students created units of lessons planned on topics ranging from the UAE heritage to the UAE religion and culture, to the learning of the alphabet in both English and Arabic. They also touched on some scientific topics.
Enas Salem one of the two students who presented their capstone yesterday, created a unit to teach children the use of English nouns.
Khadeeja Mubarak's capstone will help students learn about the properties of light waves and electromagnetics.
Gulf News 2003
