Georgetown: The annual Student Programme for Innovation in Science and Engineering (SPISE) has commenced in Barbados, with some 21 students from across the Caribbean participating.
SPISE is a science initiative staged to provide training for students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), along with Mandarin. It is an intensive four-week enrichment residential summer programme for Caribbean high-school students.
The cost of sponsorship for each student is US$6000 plus airfare. All students are attending the programme free of cost as a result of the generous donations from the 2014 sponsors. SPISE’s key collaborators are UWI Barbados, the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) and CADSTI. The programme commenced on July 19 and will run until August 16, at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, in Barbados. The participating students are from 11 Caribbean countries: Anguilla, Antigua, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Lucia, St Vincent and Trinidad and Tobago.
Of the 21 participating students, three are from Guyana. They are Cecil Cox, who topped the Caribbean in the Sciences at last year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination, Benedict Sukra and Lawrence Faria.
Last year, Guyana sent two students to participate in the programme: Janelle Codagan and Vanessa Narine of Queen’s College. The SPISE Programme will see university-level courses in calculus, physics, biochemistry and entrepreneurship taught by eminent academic and industry scientists and engineers from the Caribbean and the US.
The SPISE environment discourages rote learning, and teaches students how to focus on understanding and applying the fundamentals, so as to achieve mastery of the material, critical for solving new and complex problems.
In SPISE, students also practise teamwork as they participate in hands-on projects to design, build and test systems in the areas of robotics and electronics (with a renewable energy theme this year).
The underwater robotic kits are a generous gift from the MIT Sea Grant Programme, made possible through the assistance of Tim Downes. In addition, SPISE 2014 includes a biochemistry laboratory, an introduction to Mandarin, a course on “Caribbean Unity”, a career seminar series featuring technology role models from the Diaspora and the Region, and workshops on optimising CVs and strategies for maximising chances of admission to US universities.
At the end of the programme, students will be given the opportunity to demonstrate their hands-on projects, and present their business plans along with performing Mandarin skits at public forum at the Barbados Campus.
The participating students will also get assistance from the Caribbean Science Foundation (CSF) with their university applications. Additionally, they will have the opportunity to participate in research internships organised by the CSF and Caribbean Diaspora for Science, Technology and Innovation (CADSTI).
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