STEM Without Borders - teaching training in Kenya

Children & youth

May 30

Who: Engineers without borders Norway

What: STEM education

Where: Kenya

Project period: 2023

Web: Ingenør Uten Grenser Norge

Goal:

Develop and inspire teachers, engage children, and improve education by making STEM subjects practical, fun, and engaging!

The need for STEM education:

To solve pressing global problems, our society is dependent on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Competence and growth in these areas of knowledge are essential to solve issues such as climate change, poverty, secure food production and disease prevention. These challenges are also driving forces behind a global race for skills in science to boost innovation and secure financial growth. In order to build resilient and sustainable communities we need scientific literate citizens.

STEM subjects are global, however teachers in low-income countries often lack the tools to make the education practical and inspiring. STEM subjects are also challenging for many students, who struggle with math and understanding of abstract scientific concepts. These challenges may be overcome through pedagogy which is engaging the senses and challenging the mind.

The science curricula in Kenya was revised in 2019 and the new curricula encourage inquiry-based learning to develop critical thinking and analytical skills. Feedback from Kenyan teachers during the pilot in 2022 is that they lack the knowledge on how to implement this way of teaching. This project will aim at giving them this knowledge, and the result may come of use to other Kenyan schools in the future.

What we will do in STEM Without Borders

STEM Without Borders is a collaboration project between Engineers Without Borders Norway and the Scientist Factory. Based on the Scientist Factory’s pedagogy using EWB engineers as teachers, we are developing a scalable content and conducting teacher training in exploratory science in Kenya.

Engineers Without Borders have years of experience in helping developing communities in their respective countries with engineering projects, and partners involved in running schools in various countries. The Scientist Factory has a deep knowledge on how to teach science using methods that facilitate learning and create long lasting interest in STEM subjects.

In STEM Without Borders, we will retrain teachers in exploratory and activity-based natural sciences education at five schools in Kenya, reaching more than 800 students.