Manasa Sharma
If you’re anything like me, you were a little bit of an oddball in high school. Maybe you had an unbelievable knack for disassembling and reassembling technological devices. Maybe you could draw amazing pictures, or create whole worlds inside your computer. Maybe you were a master of languages, or knew how to make any adult feel like they were the most important person in the room. All of these skills are special—and they’re also examples of 21st century skills that employers today are looking for in their hires.
That’s why Xperimentor is so important. It helps students learn like scientists and become leaders and innovators and applied researchers, no matter what their background or interests are. It doesn’t matter if they want to study biology or criminal justice—Xperimentor creates opportunities for them to practice their 21st century skills by creating an environment where students can learn from start to finish in a real world setting.
Applied research is the gateway to new innovation, and it is more crucial than ever before.
Research is a vital skill for anyone who wants to pursue a career in…well anything. But it’s more than just something scientists do: research improves your problem-solving, critical-thinking, and leadership abilities. It prepares you to change the world. In our increasingly complex global society, we need innovators who can respond to challenges with ingenuity. We need to bring the best of science and innovation together with education, politics and business to improve societies globally.
The urgency for solving such global challenges has highlighted the need for collaboration between government, business and academia. This is crucial for addressing issues such as climate change, global catastrophes etc but also in helping us adapt to the changes we can’t prevent.
In this context, business needs to focus more on applied research, rather than basic research, which is geared more towards understanding how things work or asking fundamental questions about nature. To build these skills in young people and show them how they can contribute to solving global issues, there is a need for an “applied learning” approach.
To visualize the future, we must first understand the present.
For example, scientists are trying to predict how our climate will change in the next decades in order to prepare for the possible outcomes of global warming. But there is only so much that can be learned from previous climates; ultimately, we need to be able to study our current climate and atmospheric conditions in order to make accurate predictions.
One way of studying the present is by conducting experiments. The United Nations has stated that this type of research needs to be implemented into education systems around the world in order for us to meet sustainable development goals by 2030 (SDG 4).
The science curriculum has taken steps forward to promote 21st century skills in students. Experiments have become more relevant to students and their world. The inquiry approach is now a popular method of teaching science. Yet, many teachers are still not as familiar with an inquiry approach. Moreover, when it comes to applied research, they are even less familiar with it. It is important that teachers become more familiar with inquiry based learning and using an inquiry approach when teaching science.
To do this, teachers need a system that support them in the process of inquiry based learning in a simple way. Xperimentor can be a solution for them. In conclusion, choosing Xperimentor may be a very small step but may open new doors to the worlds of applied research, inquiry and ultimately help students become thought leaders.
