An Architect, Writer and IoT Enthusiast.
STEM Education for African girls, working with WAAW Foundation
The team- Wilson Aku, Miriam Aboh, Richeryl Ugboma, Mercy Aboh and Shadrach Akoh
The team- Wilson Aku, Miriam Aboh, Richeryl Ugboma, Mercy Aboh and Shadrach Akoh
Working with WAAW Foundation, I led a team that has impacted the lives of over 2000 students in northern and southern Nigeria (2013 - 2019). The students we taught (secondary school girls) were encouraged to consider STEM-related courses by learning about harnessing renewable energy to generate electricity, the basics of programming, and programming hardware like the Arduino board. By using recycled materials that can be found in their environments for practice, my team and showed the girls that science and technology shouldn't be intimidating. You can reach WAAW Foundation at www.waawfoundation.org
Arduino Day 2017
Arduino day is a worldwide birthday celebration of Arduino by the Arduino community. It took place on the 1st of April, 2017. #ArduinoD17
Arduino day inspired me so much more than I expected. It wasn't meant to be so big because we had so little time to plan. But were we in for a treat because the Head of Mechatronics Engineering Department and Master students from that department honored my request and came to present their really incredible works. We learned about a speed-bump-sensor car they built, their own custom made Arduino board (Ardulite), a car tracker, AI for buildings (Architecture field), and more. It was relieving knowing that these things were around us, not just something we watched online or were told about. They offered to invite anybody that was interested to attend hands-on workshops on Arduino technology. I really hope a lot of people were as inspired as I was. You can read the full report here.
The SWAN
Project
Speaking to the secondary school girls during a break-out session, encouraging them to pursue their dreams. The discussing started with ice-breaker questions, then on discovering limitations in their minds and then on breaking free from those limitations. Click on the link to view the questions for the break-out session
Speaking to the secondary school girls during a break-out session, encouraging them to pursue their dreams. The discussing started with ice-breaker questions, then on discovering limitations in their minds and then on breaking free from those limitations. Click on the link to view the questions for the break-out session
In October 2019, I worked with the SWAN project team on planning and executing an event to encourage secondary school girls to be audacious about their dreams, hence the theme; DARE TO DREAM. Besides participating in program planning, I also was in charge of coming up with questions for the break-out session for other facilitators. The questions transitioned from being ice-breakers to understanding the limitations they have in their minds to trying to get them out of those limitations. Here, I learned a lot because I got to extend myself in directions that were new to me, working on this project for girls, and that translated into gaining skills in graphic design. It was pretty interesting to have been given the honor to design the back-drop banner, flex banner and the DIY Instagram frame. Please find the link to the questions for the break-out session here.
Colab for Kids
The class was about introducing arduino using paper craft as props to tell a story of how a traffic light system works.
Props- A car made out of cardboard and bottle caps, pedestrians made from cardboard.
The most interesting thing about Colab for me is the fact that it is community-based. I love the idea that the community gets to be involved in the building process of individuals as we contribute in our way, how we want to influence and change our environment for the better.
I volunteered to teach the kids at Colab for Kids the summer of 2017 (August) and I was surprised that they let me do my own thing, come up with the curriculum, ‘build’ my teaching aid, and were completely supportive every step of the way. I am especially glad about that because I am a firm believer that we bloom when we are original and authentic, maybe it comes from the fact that I am an artist (lol).
These photos are from the class I had with the older kids as I taught on Arduino (the props were made out of cardboard, paper, and bottle caps to build a miniature car and pedestrians). The props used for the traffic light system were to aid the students to envision how something seemly complicated can be easy and fun. My goal was to help them get familiar with tinkering (Playing with technology) because I have learned that that’s how to create the best inventions. Please find the link to my post about it on Facebook here.