Internet of Things (IoT) became the center of attention for the students of Santa Maria la Blanca School in Madrid in May 2018.
Alongside AWS Madrid Summit, in Madrid Amazon Web Services (AWS) kicked off a program to teach the Internet of Things (IoT) to 50 students of 11 and 12 years old and 5 technology teachers. The agenda included four hands-on activities with an IoT device (Blue Kit) developed for kids and built on AWS by Canadian company BlueSpurs.
“The objective is to ensure that these kids embrace technology giving them a sense of what they can do with it. Independently of what they decide to be in the future, from potential artists to doctors or writers, technology is going to be part of their lives”, said Carlos Sanchiz, Amazon Web Services Solutions Architect.
This school has been selected by Amazon Web Services (AWS) in collaboration with ISDIgital Fundation and BlueSpurs being one of the 50 most innovative in the world by OECD. It strongly encourages the use of technology as part of the educational process.
The students first diagnosed in real time African blood samples with Malaria Spot application. These “malaria hunters” experienced the impact technology has on the world and realized that they have a role to play to make it better. “I'm so grateful I could come here” said Felix an 11 years old student whose eyes gleamed with excitement “Engineering is a subject I love”.
This first event has just been the kick off of an extended reach to other students. Amazon Web Services gave 10 IoT devices to the school allowing more exploration. The management of the school commented they will expand this program to other students.
“We need to put a focus on technology and treat it almost as other core subjects like math or sciences” said Dawson Moosman, Director of Technology at BlueSpurs.
This is exactly the aim of this program that expects to have more than 300 students participating next year.
