STEM Education in Botswana: Girls Getting Geeky

                                                       Design Squad Global: Technopolis Partnership                                                                       

Partner Project

The participants of the Design Squad partnered with a science house in Belgium named Technopolis. The participants selected three Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) that they would like to focus on for the final project. Teams explained to their partner club, in writing, how the project reflected the demands in their community, as well as, the reasons these topics were important. Stepping Stones International (SSI) participants selected the SDG number 3 (good health and well being), 15 (life on land) and 4 (quality education).

The partners shared their selected SDG’s and agree to one. They agreed to number 15 (life on land) under which they had to carry out interviews in the community to discover how can they as young help people stay safe?

The interviews revealed that people in Botswana are exposed to a lot of sun and heat. This is compunded by people tossing decaying trash, such as fruit peels, leaves and food anywhere, causing an unpleasant smell.

Using the design process, SSI participants created a fan cap that would provide shade to people walking in the sun. They made a normal cap and little paper fan which they secured to the front of the cap. As a person walks, the fan works like a windmill and blows a breeze on that person’s face, while the cap simultaneously provides shade.

The second design was a land fill model. Participants collected all the trash that was scattered around the public areas; layer by layer they put them into a container adding soil and water to each layer. After some days, the trash decomposed and was used as composed manure.

Graduation

After the participants had completed all their projects and shared solutions with their partner club in Belgium, they graduated. During the graduation, the participants were awarded certificates.

This round of Design Squad Global participants found it thrilling. Their     challenge was to design and build a device that can be used to drop a container from a height of at least 1 metre and safely land upright.

During this session, the participants focused on strengthening their understanding of the design process by focusing on the brainstorming and design steps. The participants discovered ways to design a shock absorbing system that protects a container as it drops to the floor. They decided to design a parachute like device by reusing materials from offices and the kitchen such as papers cups and shopping bags.

As they were building their design, one participant mentioned, “To make the device fall slowly, we have to make the hole in the plastic (canopy) that’s holding the container so that when it falls the air gets trapped inside and slows its fall."

The invention not only pushed the youth to be innovative but they investigated and learned how gravity works. The youth said that they will take the invention and share it with their friends and teachers at school. One girl mentioned, “We learned about gravity in our science class at school and it was difficult to understand because there was no practical to it and now from this experience it is clear!”

Stepping Stones International is extending STEM Geeky Girls and partnering with Technopolis in Belgium through November 2017. The youth from Belgium will interact, email, share ideas with the youth in Botswana on new creations. This will be an opportunity for both a cultural and technological exchange.