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THURSDAY 6 MARCH 2014 • [email protected] • www.thepeninsulaqatar.com • 4455 7741 Mexico fetes inside Cuaron’s Oscars, CAMPUS • UCQ’s nursing but filmmakers programme receives keep feet on CASN accreditation ground P | 4 P | 8-9 FOOD • Nickname for chef spawns Paris food dream P | 6 BOOKS • Review: Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won’t Go Away P | 7 HEALTH • Passive smoking causes irreversible damage to kids’ arteries P | 11 TECHNOLOGY • DDoS cyber attacks 21ST CENTURY get bigger, smarter and more damaging LIBRARY P | 12 Learn Arabic A new library at Berkeley’s REALM Charter School will • Learn commonly be designed and built by eighth-grade students and is used Arabic words centred on the concept of X-shaped modules that will and their meanings create everything from bookshelves to seating. P | 13 2 PLUS | THURSDAY 6 MARCH 2014 COVER STORY Eighth-graders design, build library for the 21st century By Kristin Hohenadel microphones work,’ ‘I want to learn design and build a 21st-century school should have old papyrus scripts next here’s an empty room at the how ostriches make their nests,’ ‘I want library. to iPads. And our students should feel REALM Charter School, to learn how to make video games,’ or ‘I To get started, they took a field trip comfortable walking in there and see- which opened three years want to learn better English.’ All these to the new public library a half a mile ing those two things as of the same Tago in an existing commercial questions about exploration and finding from their school. value.” building in Berkeley, California. When things you don’t know.” “It’s a beautiful library, a bunch of Pilloton and Chen said they looked Emily Pilloton, director of the school’s Pilloton’s Studio H programme, stacks and tables, but it’s what you for a design strategy that would be Studio H design and build class, and which teaches kids hands-on design would expect,” Pilloton said. “So we both manageable for eighth-graders Hallie Chen, an eighth-grade teacher, and building skills, has previously said ‘This doesn’t have to look like and logistically possible for 108 stu- asked students what they envisioned empowered high-school students in that, it doesn’t even have to look like a dents to collaborate on equally. They for the space, they had plenty of ideas. Bertie County, North Carolina, to library.’ I’m sort of an old fogey in this decided on a building block model, “When we asked them what do you build a community farmer’s market, regard, I love books and I think kids where the crux of the student design want out of your school, they didn’t use earning them the key to the city. Now should have thousands of books around work goes into conceiving of one basic the word ‘library,’ “ Pilloton told me based at REALM, where she recently them. But in the same way that our module, which can then, like a Lego in a phone interview. “They said they started a design and building camp classroom has old-school chisels and brick, form the basis of everything in wanted a space to relax and read and for girls, Pilloton is helping lead 108 wood planes and a laser cutter right the space, from bookshelves to tables discover. They said ‘I want to learn how eighth-grade students on a mission to next to each other, I think our space and seating and light fixtures. PLUS | THURSDAY 6 MARCH 2014 3 “We thought that was was a meta- some books that maybe you’re not even project is the last space to be built out the $75,000 needed to build and equip phor for our students,” Pilloton said. looking for but maybe along the way in the school, which probably wouldn’t the X-Space, Pilloton and her students “They’re greater as a whole but indi- you find out why ostriches build their have been the case even 20 years ago. have launched a Kickstarter campaign vidually have their place in it.” nests.” Not to mention that the school has run that they hope will fund books, con- They eventually decided to use an It seems noteworthy that the library out of funds for renovation. So to raise struction materials, lighting, fixtures, X as the building block and are calling hardware, technology, software, sub- their new-fangled library the X-Space. scriptions, periodicals and e-books for “They’re all taking pre-algebra the X-Space. right now so they all know that X is I asked Pilloton why she thought her the unknown,” Pilloton said, “X can be students spontaneously asked for what anything. You go into this space and amounts to a dedicated library space in explore and find new things, whether an age when knowledge is as accessible that’s in a book or on a laptop or as the nearest Wi-Fi connection. through a project you’re doing with To raise the $75,000 “For me it means they’re saying ‘I your classmates.” needed to build need somewhere to be the antidote The individual units, which they and equip the from all this fast-paced screen learn- are calling STAX, are made of 13-ply X-Space, Pilloton ing, give me something meaningful I finished plywood. Carl Bass, CEO of and her students can hold in my hand,’ “ Pilloton said. Autodesk, helped them to work out “I’m gonna sound like my grandmother the details of the design to make sure have launched right now, but I think they spend so the modules would be stable enough to a Kickstarter much time absorbing information in support the weight of books. He vol- campaign that the world through a screen, they have unteered his high-precision computer they hope will fund that and they know what that world numerical controlled (CNC) cutting feels like. But the minute they slow machine to ensure that each module books, construction down and build something, it engages would be identical, cutting the pieces materials, fixtures, their brain in a different way. I think needed to make the STAX units him- hardware, software, that deep down, kids, they still want self in his private shop nearby. subscriptions, that. The slower, simpler, more focused “Most bookshelves are horizontal,” work might seem low-tech or old-fash- Pilloton said. In the X-Space, “all the periodicals and ioned, but they need that to balance books will be at 45 degree angles. So e-books. everything out. I think that helps them you have to engage with the shelf in a make sense of the world.” way that forces you to weave through WP-Bloomberg 4 PLUS | THURSDAY 6 MARCH 2014 CAMPUS UCQ’s nursing programme receives CASN accreditation he Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN) has granted accredita- Ttion to the University of Calgary in Qatar (UCQ). The announcement was made in a letter from CASN, which is the national accrediting body for nursing education in Canada. The accredita- tion will run for a seven-year term, the highest level possible. “Achieving National accreditation provides stu- dents and graduates an assurance that the University of Calgary in Qatar programme meets recognised standards of excellence that are applicable to masters programmes throughout the world,” states Dean & CEO Kim Critchley. Accreditation is recognised worldwide for promot- ing excellence and as an important, objective method of assessing professional education programmes. It identifies strengths and opportunities for improve- ment. Administrators and faculty are provided with information regarding areas that require develop- ment, modification and/or resources. The accreditation procedure is also an important ingredient in the National Health Strategy’s aim The CASN Accreditation Bureau gave high marks content and standards of education is maintained,” of regulating healthcare practitioners in Qatar and to UCQ for its ability to adapt its nursing programme Critchley explains. ensuring the quality of the education they receive to incorporate the local culture and support students UCQ must now finalise the evaluation plan for professional development. whose first language is not English. and have it approved by the Academic Program “UCQ’s CASN accreditation demonstrates the “Nursing education programmes must continu- Committee and submit a progress report of the commitment of Canadian institutions to aca- ally incorporate new knowledge and be responsive to evaluation process in 2016. demic and professional excellence in Qatar,” said the changing needs of students and the health care The CASN review committee was led by Jane the Canadian Ambassador to Qatar, André Dubois. environment. Graduates must be prepared to work Milliken with the participation of Landa Terblanche “UCQ and others are helping the next generation safely in increasingly complex environments in the and Lorna Butler. who will fulfill the Qatar National Vision 2030, par- context of the constantly changing and growing body UCQ’s accreditation committee members are: Lois ticularly in health care. This is a further demon- of knowledge on which nursing practice is based. Thornton, Sue Kersey, Jan Marie Graham and CJ stration of how Canada can be a partner of choice One of the ways to ensure this is being done, is the Davison. in Qatar. ” CASN accreditation process, which demands the The Peninsula Students and staff of Shantiniketan Indian School organised a painting exhibition — “Shades of Grey” – at its campus recently. The displayed items were the corroboration of students’ year-long Birla Public School arranged a field trip for primary hard work and thoughts. The principal, Dr Subhash Nair, inaugurated the exhibition with brush-strokes students to Aspire Park recently.

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