Argentina and Brazil, aiming to offer 1
million children a free education by 2020.
The labs are sponsored by Skype in the
Classroom, Empatico, Participate, I3
Technologies, Lego Education, PXL and
Edukans. PXL university college will do
research to ensure the project is making
impact and how students perceive
the project. Helen Clark, former Prime
Minister of New Zealand, HRM princess
Esmeralda of Belgium and Dr. Don
Thomas, astronaut, endorsed the
project.
the world will be able to connect to
the local students in the Lab Schools,
offering them powerful intercultural
exchanges.
Students will be asked to work to
improve their communities. They will
have to explore, brainstorm, discuss,
offer feedback, create, connect, reflect,
present and share their findings. Far
beyond studying and memorizing
facts, children will find solutions and
take action to improve their world.
They will become content creators as
well as content consumers.
In 2006 an approach called activity-
based learning (ABL) was introduced in
all primary schools in the Indian state of
Tamil Nadu. This experiment eventually
involved 37,000 schools and 40 million
children. The program demonstrated
that giving children the chance to
work through the curriculum with their
friends at their own pace and in their
own style, was hugely more effective
than forcing them to follow a teacher’s
instructions with little autonomy.
The project involves a new curriculum
based on the UN Sustainable
Development Goals, a collection of 17
global goals set by the United Nations
General Assembly in 2015. These
goals have the power to end poverty,
fight inequality and stop climate
change. The curriculum is developed
by 20 experts and makes connections
with STEM (Science Technology
Engineering and Math). It will be
published for free in 10 languages on
our website www.innovationsdglab.
com and it will promote other learning
approaches like collaborative learning
and flipped learning.
In a world increasingly polarized by
technology, self-driven global citizens
are more important than ever. As
Smith and Kang state: “Loneliness,
addiction and polarization are linked.
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Community and empathy are the route
Out”. Formal education has the duty to
teach tolerance and change students’
mindsets concerning single use plastic,
solar power, avoiding wasting clean
water, calling out sexist language and
behavior, etc. A project-based learning
approach allows students to brainstorm
and reflect about these issues. In the
end we want to offer the students a fair
perspective and strong insights, which
can help them make well informed
decisions when they are adults.
Koen and Roots and Shoots will start
developing Innovation Lab Schools in
Tanzania (Pugu and Kigoma) and South
Africa. Future schools are planned
in Nigeria, Uganda, Morocco, Arctic
Canada, Palestine, China, Malawi,
The project was among the finalists
in the UNESCO prize for innovation in
education.
The project will both offer a free
education to hundreds of thousands
of students and also a platform
to teachers across the world to
exchange thoughts, best practices and
applications. By allowing students to
use the UN Sustainable Development
Goals to improve their world, they will
be developing the skills they will need
to navigate the complex technological
world in their futures.
Through a balance of technology,
content, pedagogy and community,
students will learn the important skills
they’ll need to ensure their future is
driven by the best aspects of humanity,
rather than the worst aspects of
technology.
Koen is a Belgian educator, author, speaker and SDG ambassador. In 2018 he
was announced as one of the best teachers globally by Bill Gates as part of the
Global Teacher Prize. He’s a lecturer and researcher at the Teacher Training
department at PXL university college Hasselt. Koen is passionate about
technology enhanced and collaborative learning. In 2015 he launched the
Kakuma project in which 350 educators across 6 continents offer free education to African
refugees via Skype. He also launched several global educational projects focusing on several
UN SDGs involving 500 schools over 90 countries which were supported by the Dalai Lama,
Charlize Theron, UNESCO, Greenpeace, scientists, National Geographic, etc. These projects
were covered by (national) media across 35 countries.
In 2018 Koen developed Innovation Lab schools in several African countries in collaboration
with Dr. Jane Goodall and Roots & Shoots. The labs aim to offer a free quality education to
1 million students by 2020 involving 20 schools in 4 continents. This project involves a new
curriculum focusing on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Koen is a Microsoft Expert Educator Fellow, winner of the HundrED award, National
Geographic Certified Educator and TeachSDGs founding ambassador. He’s co-author of the
book “Teaching in the Fourth Industrial Revolution” which is available at Amazon.
Koen has been invited to speak at NNSTOY Washington, EdCrunch Moscow, Mesa Vienna,
GESF Dubai, Agastya Bangalore, Microsoft UK, E2 Paris and Toronto, European Commission,
Qudwa Abu Dhabi, Teach for Belgium, European Parliament and NRClive Rotterdam.
He created several educational apps and websites and founded his own online school
Zelfstudie.com currently having 20,000 online students.
More info: www.timmers.me
Images: http://timmers.me/presskit.html
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timmerskoen/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/zelfstudie
Class Time