CcHUB Promotes STEM

The CcHUB, an innovation centre dedicated to the application of social capital and technology for economic prosperity has developed an initiative through which it will promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in Nigeria and Africa.

Through its the GO-GA project, the organisation aims to address the challenges of delivering world-class STEM education in Nigeria and across Africa.

The project is focused on accelerating the              adoption of richer learning environments and deployment of contextually engaging digital           content to improve learning outcomes in STEM education in Africa.

CcHUB noted that increasingly, resources and content available for STEM education, were designed for the developed world.

According to the organisation, ensuring seamless and effective adoption in the developing world, would mean adapting the content to fit within the constraints of developing countries.

This includes taking into consideration availability and type of devices, lack of steady power supply and affordable and reliable internet access.

The GO-GA project would address these challenges by adapting the Go-Lab ecosystem for deployment in schools across Africa.

The Go-Lab ecosystem empowers students by offering open, structured and personalised learning resources for conducting           experiments using modern (virtual) laboratory equipment independently and to deepen their knowledge of fundamental sciences, and ultimately motivate them to pick a career in science and technology.

“In this framework, students learn through so-called Inquiry Learning Spaces (ILSs) that combine online labs, multimedia material, and inquiry apps.

“What makes Go-Lab unique is the possibility to use learning apps next to the online labs and combine those together with multimedia material to complete learning experiences (called Inquiry Learning Spaces) and the authoring facilities that go with this.

“By adapting and localising the existing Go-Lab portal, GO-GA would make available rich and              engaging STEM content for students in secondary schools.

“This would be achieved by building on               teacher communities and equipping teachers to deliver top-quality, engaging STEM education,”  the CEO of CcHUB,  ‘Bosun Tijani said at a recent forum in Lagos.

The GO-GA, a 3-year project funded by the European Commission is being implemented               in Benin Republic, Kenya and Nigeria by a consortium of partners made up of 7 European and African partners (Co-creation Hub Nigeria-CcHUB, eLIMU Learning Company, Ecole         Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne -EPFL, Etri Labs, Information Multimedia Communication AG-IMC, Mito Technology, Nuclio and the University of Twente).

The project officially commenced in Nigeria on Friday 19th with its train-the-trainers programme which equipped 40 STEM teachers from public and private schools in Lagos, Ogun and Abuja to be master trainers.  

The master trainers would be skilled at using the Go-Lab ecosystem and Inquiry Learning              Method to teach science subjects in their schools and will also be able to train other teachers           within their community.

CcHUB is also partnering with the Tai Solarin University of Education, to serve as a pipeline for training pre-service  and in-service teachers in the use of the Go-Lab Ecosystem and Inquiry Learning method for science education.

The pilot in schools would commence in schools across Nigeria, next February and CcHUB hopes the project would build a generation of young people across the continent.