With just over a month to go before the beginning of the carnival parades in Rio de Janeiro, a symbol of the party and popular culture was honored this Wednesday (23). The first Technological Experimental Gym in the city, a model school that aims to disseminate technological education, was named after the singer Elza Soares, who died on January 20, at the age of 91.
The unit is located in Rocha, Zona Norte, and represents a new educational model that, with an emphasis on innovation, intends to approach didactic content based on real experiences and needs brought by students. The school, part of the municipal network, will serve students up to the sixth grade, will begin to work with around 200 students and will have a capacity for 300.
According to the Municipal Department of Education, teaching will use the Steam methodology, which aims to combine science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics, with an emphasis on practical tools. The objective is to use collaborative laboratories, with 3D printers and robotics, and encourage the maker culture in young people, which seeks to encourage students to manufacture and repair items with their own hands.
Secretary Renan Ferreirinha explains that the strategy is to spread educational units of the model throughout the city in the coming years.
This is the first, we will have five of these by the end of the year and 22 by 2024, following the Strategic Plan of the Municipality. We have 11 regionals in the city and we will do two in each one. This is the most innovative public school in Brazil. An extremely innovative model, full of symbolism, because it thinks about innovation and is dedicated to Elza Soares, an artist who innovated until her last breath.
Renan Ferreirinha, Municipal Secretary of Education of Rio de Janeiro
The selection of students prioritized those who live close to the school or who studied in neighboring units. According to the secretary, the Experimental Technological Gymnasium Elza Soares will also function as a space for training and teachers who will work on the network using the Steam methodology.
“It is in the North Zone, but its existence benefits the entire network and community, in a model that will spread and that represents the resumption of the Fábrica de Escolas Project”, concludes Ferreirinha.
The opening event was attended by family members of Elza Soares and had a performance by the drums of Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel, the singer’s heartfelt association that honored her at the 2020 carnival, with the theme “Elza Deusa Soares”. Symbol of the new educational model proposed by the school, a robot almost three meters high did not show much rhythm, but fell into the samba.
Source: CNN Brasil
