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Global STEM competitions are coming to Africa!

Enabling young African students to participate in the World Robot Olympiad

STEM competitions are an ideal learning environment for students to develop key skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking and teamwork. But when looking at the map, we see that young Africans are underrepresented at global STEM events. Africa Code Week co-founders Camden.education and their like-minded partners are bridging the gap by rolling out the World Robot Olympiad across Africa.

Overview

Information on this page is provided by the innovator and has not been evaluated by HundrED.

Web presence

2022

Established

500

Children

11

Countries
Target group
Teachers
Updated
June 2023
We want to see more young Africans, including girls and SEN students, embracing STEM as a field of study. By providing a fun learning environment, WRO is a great barrier breaker indeed. It also enables educators to share best practices and improve their teaching practices. This is key to build a stronger STEM education community in Africa that will benefit students in the long run.

About the innovation

Why did you create this innovation?

We are on a mission to bridge the next skills gap: after digital literacy, young Africans need fair access to the next level of STEM education that includes challenges and competitions.

What does your innovation look like in practice?

When students compete, they face real-world problems that require creative and innovative solutions. They become more inquisitive, research independently, solve problems, learn to work with others and strive to do more than is required – quite a priceless fold in the future workplace. When applying John Mezirow's Transformative Learning Theory to a competition like the World Robot Olympiad, we see that all aspects of effective learning are met - from instrumental learning all the way to experiencing opportunities.
In 2019, research conducted by WRO Germany showed that WRO competitions have a positive impact on students’ skills – including soft skills: in 79% of cases, WRO students develop problem solving skills.

How has it been spreading?

From our rich experience of introducing coding skills to 14 million youths and 100,000 educators over the past 8 years, we know for a fact that SDG17 is the road to success for every high-impact education initiative out there. Building on the unique, high-impact ecosystem we have developed and supported for Africa Code Week since 2015, we have what it takes to scale in record time.
We are working with our growing family of like-minded partners to roll out WRO across 40 countries over the next 3 years. We will leverage the WRO ‘Future Innovators’ Category: project-based with a free choice of hardware, it provides a low barrier entry for students to compete.

If I want to try it, what should I do?

You can visit the WRO web site and look for a competition near you. You are also invited to join our family of like-minded partners and help us scale robotics competitions across the youngest continent. We look forward to hearing from you!
info@thecamdentrust.org

Implementation steps

WRO in Africa: 3 year plan
In 2022, we ran the first pilot in Tanzania. In 2023, we will be piloting WRO in 10 to 12 countries in partnership with trusted grassroots organizations. In 2024, we will review the pilots and extend the program to an additional 10 countries with a focus on West Africa. For more details: https://camden.education/world-robot-olympiad/

Spread of the innovation

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