A lecture with the rector of Unicamp Marcelo Knobel on the theme “Innovation and Education” kicked off the activities of the 9th Education Week, held by the Fundação Feac de Campinas. The University is one of the supporters of the event that will continue in various parts of the city until the 29th (see the schedule here). The lecture was at the Exploratory Science Museum on the morning of last Saturday, the 22nd. Various activities were carried out throughout the day at the location and continue throughout the week.
Knobel, informally, commented on some points related to education and new technologies. He spoke about the importance of new media, such as YouTube, and its reach; a potential that he considers has not yet been explored much by educators. The dean said that it would be possible, for example, to record classes by great masters that end up being lost in time. Or even classes that are repeated in Brazil and in various parts of the world.
Regarding the necessary changes in education, Knobel stated that it is necessary to motivate teachers and young people. She recalled the need to improve fundamental education and value free public universities. “The higher education we have today is very content-oriented and not very concerned with the general education of the individual. The result is that we can train excellent doctors or engineers, but they have never been to the cinema or read a novel.”
The professor also highlighted how rigid the educational system is, not allowing mobility between courses or even between universities. According to him, this could even represent a waste of public resources. Knobel also drew attention to the lack of laboratories in high schools. These would be spaces to stimulate the process of doing science, observation and experimentation. According to the dean, doing science means stimulating critical thinking, something fundamental these days.
Education Week
Since last year, the partnership between Fundação Feac and Unicamp has been intensified to promote activities during Education Week. The idea this year is to connect the theme of education with other challenges in the country's development and take the discussion about the importance of education to other audiences. “Education connects with major social challenges, which is also the challenge of academia. We will have events with Unicamp connecting education with health issues, innovation, among other topics”, stated socio-educational superintendent Leandro Pinheiro.
