Featured Teacher
Suma Koshy
Fuels a love for science in her students
L-R: Anitha with Suma Koshy, Head of Science at OOS.
S
cience could be considered as
one of the subjects that is least
likely to generate excitement
in girls. This wasn’t the case
for Suma Koshy, Head of Science at
Our Own E nglish High School Sharjah
(OOS). Suma has been teaching
Chemistry for the past 26 years. Her
love for the subject has fuelled a similar
passion in the young women that she
teaches at OOS.
Originally from Kerala, India, Suma
credits her mother, who was a Physics
teacher, as the inspiration for her
becoming an educator.
soil, battery pack and containers. The
materials that she and her students
selected are removable, replaceable
and re-usable.
Suma and her students hope that if
commercialized, this could potentially
reduce the amount of money spent on
sophisticated cleaning and recovery
methods.
Below, Suma shares some of the
lessons that she took away from the
project as an educator/facilitator and
what she hopes her students will take
away from the experiment.
We met a few of her students at the
GEMS Maker Day, which was held
in February 2016. Her students had
created a science project to tackle
cleaning oil spills from the ocean using
biodegradable materials.
What did you learn about
your students throughout the
process of them creating the
project on oil spill and making
the oceans clean?
The project entailed designing a
prototype, Oily Spoily Recovery
Apparatus, to deal with oil spills
effectively and productively. The
device not only cleans oil spills but
also provides a method to successfully
extract oil from the mixture. One of
the most striking features of the device
is that they have used environmentfriendly materials and methods that
can be adopted at a larger scale. These
include: motor boat, special oil pump,
fan, nanowire mesh, green moss,
sawdust, funnel (bottle), regulators,
I discovered students acquire a deeper
knowledge through active exploration
of real-world challenges and problems.
They delved deeper into the subject,
beyond the curriculum requirements
to do this project. I experienced
immense pleasure when I saw them
being intensely involved. The students
sensed the danger to the environment
caused by general apathy and realized
that the issue needed to be addressed
urgently.
All the while ensuring
that the project maintained its cost
effectiveness.
What life lessons do you hope
that this project has taught
your students?
Through Project Based Learning, they
can learn content at those deeper
levels we equate with understanding.
It is my hope that the students have
learnt to view different perspectives,
constructive deliberation, questioning,
and critical analysis because that
can result in better solutions and
performance.
What is the best advice that
you have received and how
has it helped you?
The best advice that I have received
is that a teacher should hold a lot
of humility and be ready to learn
more. Additionally, a teacher must
be passionate about teaching. This
has helped me to be a skilled leader
with effective disciplinary skills and a
positive outlook.
Suma’s students are a true reflection
of her passion for teaching. They are
articulate, well rounded young ladies,
who displayed a lot of enthusiasm and
drive in making the project a reality
under her guidance. Our Own English
High School Sharjah will definitely
continue to thrive with dedicated
teachers, like Suma, who make
teaching and learning fun, practical
and worthwhile.
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May - Jun 2016
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