Rhizome Association
Rhizome Association is a community of like-minded individuals who believe the future of education should be based on active learning, skills development and interdisciplinary projects in science, arts and civic engagement. Rhizome Association, a non-profit organization founded by Tamara Milosevic and Omar Awile in France, will host diverse educational programs and interdisciplinary projects, bringing to everyone interested in collaborative learning a new approach of learning-by-doing, or project-based learning.
Prirodoslovno-matematički fakultet
Prirodoslovno-matematički fakultet (PMF, Faculty of science) is one of the oldest faculties at the University of Split, providing university degrees in computer science, mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology. Recently, PMF has become a prominent actor in science popularization in Croatia, raising scientific literacy and interest in STEM fields. Our partnership with PMF allows us to use their teaching lab for our interdisciplinary projects in the best way possible, while providing a vibrant environment for our summer program.
A one of a kind teaching team
We are an enthusiastic team of teachers and mentors composed of former participants of the program and teachers who developed and tested the program.
Tamara Milosevic and Omar Awile are the principal teachers and designers of the Foundations workshop.
After her PhD in biology, Tamara designed innovative science courses (LabSprint, Biosensors, ...) and coordinated the Bachelor program Frontières du Vivant, University Paris Descartes, and designed pedagogical programs for Association Frateli, Paris, France. Currently she consults universities on the implementation of innovative teaching methods, and works on developing the Rhizome Association as its first president and co-founder.
Omar Awile obtained his PhD degree in 2013 from ETH Zurich in the field of high-performance computing. He has more than 10 years of experience in academia (EPFL, ETHZ, CERN) and industry (IBM, Intel) working on various topics at the intersection of computer science, natural sciences and engineering. He has been teaching computer science at ETHZ, MedILS and University Paris Descartes since 2009.
Aïmen El Assimi studied Marine Biotechnology in Brest and is currently working on scientific communication in the Aquarium in Brest where he lives and plays a lot of Dungeons and Dragons. He helped design and has taught courses with Tamara in Paris since 2013, and he believes doing science, teaching and learning should not be dissociated, so he strives to do all of these things simultaneously.
Active learning in an interdisciplinary environment
Foundations course stems from the five years of teaching experience at the University Paris Descartes. Before engulfing on exciting research projects in the interface of different scientific disciplines, we bring all learners the necessary basic knowledge and skills that they can immediately apply to answer scientific questions.
Our course is a hybrid course, allowing flexibility through personal learning time and maximizing student-teacher interactions to develop essential skills and put the learned knowledge into practice. Check out our introductory videos and some of the projects students have been able to create using their knowledge and skills in science and engineering.
https://learningthruresearch.blogspot.com
Funding
Rhizome Foundations 2019 is being made possible thanks to financial support of the Alcuin Fund managed by the King Baudouin Foundation. Furthermore we thank all our crowdfunding donors for their trust! If you would like to support our work, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us.