Dr. Hazem Skaik, Professor of Physics at Al-Azhar University in the Gaza Strip, has a long history in the field of scientific communication. His career he started since 2001 by writing books and publishing his lessons on the Internet made him gain a place in the Arab scientific communication space.

Through his long experience, Dr. Hazem confirms that it has become necessary to shift to "digitization" in teaching;

The Arab student today has become more inclined to interactive lessons supported by videos and images, a shift that teachers must keep pace with, accompany and work with today to improve performance and indoctrination, especially in scientific subjects such as physics.

Al Jazeera Net interviewed Dr. Hazem Skaik via e-mail, and here is the interview:

Dr. Hazem Skaik has a long history in the field of scientific communication dating back to 2001 (Al-Jazeera)

  • The Arab reader is always curious to know the details of the progress of Arab scientists, especially the pioneers of scientific communication. How was your scientific career?

I was born in Gaza City on September 18, 1965, and I grew up and studied until middle school in the city of Benghazi in Libya, where my father worked as a teacher there, and then the family moved to the United Arab Emirates, where I studied secondary school there in 1983.

After that, she joined the UAE University to study physics and mathematics, and obtained a bachelor's degree in 1987, then obtained a master's degree in optoelectronics from Queen's University in Belfast, Britain in 1989, and then obtained a doctorate from the same university in 1991 in the field of manufacturing and diagnosing superconducting films.

After graduation, I worked as a researcher in the laser department at the same university for a year and a half, where I supervised a group of doctoral students in addition to conducting many scientific research in my field of specialization, and then I returned to my homeland in Gaza in 1993 to work at Al-Azhar University.

She held many administrative positions, and established many pioneering centers at the university;

Such as the Information Technology Unit and the College of Intermediate Studies. It also participated in many conferences and published many research papers that came as a result of scientific trips in France, Germany, Britain, Egypt and Jordan.

I devoted a large part of my time to popularizing and simplifying science through the articles, books and translations I have published on my Physics Educational Network website, and I have put out several video courses on my YouTube channel and on the Academy of Physics Educational platform based on learning through the MOOC methodology. (MOOC) (Open Source Courses) in publishing e-learning course materials.

The digital transformation in indoctrination of students in physics has become necessary (Al-Jazeera)

  • What is the peculiarity of studying in the Gaza Strip under the occupation?

It is no secret that the living conditions of the general public in the Gaza Strip in general, and students in particular, are very difficult.

The infrastructure of schools and universities is not adequately prepared in terms of laboratories and modern educational equipment, and the problem of daily electricity cuts for long periods of time constitutes an obstacle to students and teachers, in addition to the siege imposed on Gaza for more than 12 years;

All of this made resources scarce and mobility opportunities almost non-existent, causing the loss of many opportunities to complete studies abroad for graduate students or to participate in scientific conferences and symposia.

The high rates of unemployment and poverty are also frustrating for the young generation, and make them preoccupied during their studies about what they will do after graduation.

  • You stormed the field of scientific communication about two decades ago through the launch of many electronic platforms and props. Tell us about the motives and how your ideas developed and crystallized realistically?

The beginning was with an educational website for physics, which I established in 2001, in my desire to find a solution to the problem of students not being able to reach the university, after the Israeli occupation army divided the Gaza Strip and placed barriers that prevented students from traveling to universities.

On the website’s pages, I published my lectures that I gave to my students at the university, and I made sure that the method of drafting them was similar to the method of explanation in the lecture itself.

When the student reads it, he feels that he is listening to the explanation.

I relied on the method of explaining the information in an easy and accessible way that addresses the student’s mind and mind, which contributed to the spread of the site among school and university students and all those interested. Through the site, I received many questions and inquiries that contributed to the development of the site, and I answered these questions by explaining an entire topic About him, and gradually the site became replete with useful information for students.

Visitors to the site increased, which prompted me to establish the Educational Physics Forum in 2005, and it gained fame and spread among students of physics in the Arab world (before the spread of social networks), and many professors, lecturers, university students and students joined it under one roof. It provides the answer, and some of them publish the news and write the topics and help the questioners in finding the required information.

Then I founded the Modern Physics magazine in 2006, which was published twice a year and contained articles in various fields of science and technology.

Dr. Hazem Skaik in one of his applied lessons (Al Jazeera)

  • The educational physics channel on YouTube recently reached 5 million views, how do you prepare its content?

    Are you facing difficulties with that?

The Educational Physics Channel was established in 2009 to provide lectures that I work on recording, editing and montage to be a reference for the student anywhere in the world, and I took into account in producing the lectures that they attract the attention of the student and discuss his mind and thought, and there are more than 500 videos on the channel covering 12 university physics courses Specialized in Arabic in an interesting and smooth style.

Many of our students have benefited from these lectures, and work is underway to develop the channel to provide models for solving problems and issues that the student needs to achieve the maximum benefit from his understanding of the lectures and benefit from them.

I make a personal effort to prepare, record and edit the training material professionally. It may take approximately 12 hours to work on each lecture to become available on YouTube. I developed my skills in recording, adjusting sound and adding comments that attract the viewer’s eye to what is being explained, as learning through video recordings requires Preparing informational material in a way that makes the student feel as if the lecturer is with him.

Hazem Skaik: Universities in Finland open their laboratories for the use of students and teachers from schools (Al-Jazeera)

  • How do you rate the interaction of Arab students with your content?

The articles of the Educational Physics Network have a good follow-up from the Arab reader, and approximately 2,000 to 3,000 readers visit them daily, according to the statistics I get.

However, in general, the Arab reader in the past was more interactive with the articles and topics that he published on the educational physics network, and had the passion and desire to read, benefit, debate and dialogue, but with the spread of social networks, the reader tended to read the short topics in a striking way, and also He switched to getting his information from the videos.

This change is global and is not limited to the Arab region, and therefore we, as content makers, must develop the provision of information to suit the reader in this era, relying more on "multimedia" supported by audio and video.

As for the followers of the educational physics channel on YouTube, the number of viewers reaches nearly 400 views per hour, and there is an increasing demand for watching lessons and lectures on the channel.

Hazem Skaik wrote and translated a number of books in the field of physics (Al-Jazeera)

  • In return, you have several books, tell us about them and their importance?

    Was it also popular?

My journey began with writing books in 2001, when I authored two books in general physics, and in 2008 I wrote a book explaining Einstein’s special theory of relativity and two books in the field of medical diagnostic devices and electron microscopes, and in 2009 I wrote a 3-part book that talks about how things work .

She also wrote a series of computer books in 2002 under the title "Without a Teacher", in which she explained the skills of using Microsoft Office programs, and another in the field of drawing and design using Corel Draw and Photoshop. In another book, she explained the skills of video editing and editing and design using Flash.

It has also translated many scientific papers in the fields of medicine, engineering, environment, physics and nanotechnology, which are available for download through the Physics Educational Network under the Digital Repository section.

  • Many professors complain about the decline in the level of the Arab student in physics. Do you think that teaching this subject needs reforms today?

I believe that this problem has several reasons, including that we as teachers practice education in traditional ways, while everything around us is transforming, changing and developing, as well as the student himself, whom educators described as a digital student with his own peculiarities, such as that he loves learning through teamwork and his focus period. Few and more are attracted to active learning and educational materials supported by "multimedia".

Hazem Skaik: The design factory at Aalto University in Helsinki provides its services to 3 universities (Al-Jazeera)

My opinion on this subject is that we need today to shift from education to learning, as education is a task that the teacher undertakes to provide the student with knowledge, while learning focuses on the student and makes him the focus of the learning process under the supervision and guidance of the teacher, and through this approach he acquires the skills to benefit from knowledge in innovation. Problem solving and creative thinking.

Recently, and through a personal experience in which I began to apply STEM technology in education by integrating science, mathematics, engineering and technology in education to provide students with 21st century skills, while linking the educational curriculum with practical experiences from real life, and through this approach I felt the demand of students Their love and passion for physics increased, and their abilities to understand and benefit from what they were studying increased.

  • A few days before Ramadan, I made a scientific tour to Finland. You said that it was very useful and sometimes exceeded your expectations. Tell us about its details and how you benefited from it?

I had a business trip to Finland between March 10th and 28th, 2022 to see the education system in Finnish schools and universities, and I found in it what really amazed me and exceeded my expectations;

Education there is a part of life, as the student enjoys a distinguished education backed by a high quality infrastructure.

Each classroom contains a laboratory with all the equipment that the teacher needs to communicate his information to the student. In the educational session, the student exercises classroom activities that serve the topic of the lesson. With the teacher’s help, he makes a report on the activity, and then moves to interactive questions prepared for each lesson that support the skills of the 21st century.

In addition, the halls are equipped with appropriate technical education equipment and audio-visual devices, and universities open their laboratories for the use of students and teachers in schools in the form of clear cooperation between the school and the university.

Hazem Skaik: The student in Finland enjoys a distinguished education supported by a high-quality infrastructure (Al-Jazeera)

Education there is also concerned with providing the student with manual skills to learn sewing, weaving, home economics, carpentry and various handicrafts through workshops equipped for educational purposes.

This is in addition to the existence of new learning systems such as the design factory at Aalto University in Helsinki, which provides its services to 3 universities and benefits engineering, science and management students, where students meet in the form of working groups to do research to solve problems facing industry and the local community.

The library in Finland is an essential part of the scientific system;

It occupies the heart of the school and college, and is an essential part of the student's life as well, and education programs provide the student with a healthy diet free of charge.

After the lesson is over, there is a quarter of an hour for the student to rest and relax, each according to his desire. There are sound-isolated rooms and others in the corridors, in addition to comfortable chairs everywhere, and games such as tennis and billiards in which the student can practice an activity before moving on to the next lesson.

  • Have you come across ideas that can be applied in Arab universities?

Through the tour that we took in the schools and universities of Finland, I generated many ideas that can be applied in Arab universities, which is to increase the interdependence between the school and the university and between the school teacher and the university professor to exchange experiences and take advantage of the university’s capabilities to develop school education.

Enhancing classrooms with educational activities that enhance the student’s role in the educational process, and the need to promote teamwork and participatory learning, and enable the teacher to join groups of students to guide and help them solve a problem or carry out an activity.

As well as modifying the philosophy of the curriculum to enhance the role of the teacher as a facilitator of the educational process by focusing on educational activities and assessment tools at the end of each lesson.

With the need to introduce craft education to provide students with skills that will benefit them in their future lives.

Finally, the establishment of a permanent central museum of science in each university.

Dr. Hazem Skaik has future projects in the field of simplifying physics sciences (Al-Jazeera)

  • Are you preparing to launch projects in the field of scientific communication in the future?

Scientific communication is a very important topic;

It is the link between scientists and society by simplifying the sciences to enable man to obtain scientific knowledge and benefit from it in his life.

On a personal level, I plan to present a series of videos that deal with scientific issues from the reality of our contemporary daily life, and present another series in the field of simplifying physics for students and those interested, with the aim of changing the stereotype that students hold about physics as a difficult and incomprehensible subject.

  • Are there any final words?

In conclusion, I am happy to address my sons and daughters, male and female students, to be interested in acquiring knowledge, delving into it, reflecting on its meanings, benefiting from it, linking it to the reality of life, and acquiring skills that enhance their abilities to win the labor market.

I advise every male and female student to pay attention to the factor of time, as this is a period in which you build your minds and charge them with information to be the best addition to you in your academic and practical life in the future. From information and working with it, and not as a way to waste time and entertainment, there is a lot awaiting us, God willing, for you are the pillar of this nation and for you we will be proud.