A Mission to Bring STEM Skills, and Robots, to Children in West Africa

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/30/world/africa/a-mission-to-bring-stem-skills-to-children-in-west-africa.html?ref=world&_r=0

Jacob Kazmierczak


“'We have kids brought in from math and science schools, and when they see an airplane flying, they think it’s magic,' Dr. Ndao said. “But if you give them any math problem, they can solve it.'” As I was looking for articles to discuss for this week, the article by Dionne Searcey caught my attention in part thanks to that quote. While not totally relevant to the weeks course work, in the GLS492 class we've been talking alot about Africa and what the best way to help poverty stricken areas to prosper might be. Even with all of the discussion, it never really occurred to me that education potentially would not be applied to the real world. For me, it seems so obvious that the things you learn in school apply to earth and the world runs in regards to what we learn, however the thought that some may not put these two together is very strange to me. Essentially the article talks about this event that is organized by a man named Sidy Ndao from Sengal. He is a professor of engineering at University of Nebraska-Lincoln and organizes the event to help students in Africa learn STEM skills. While the article doesn't go much into details, because the situation is still relatively new, it talks about some of the students who seem passionate to learn and willing to listen to new ideas. Ndao's issue with the schools in Africa is that they focus on memorization, not practicality and critical thinking, which can be seen in the opening quote. I actually think that his concern is quite important to take into account, hopefully his project picks up and somehow spreads into the school systems, as it will be beneficial when these clearly intelligent girls understand what they are learning fully and can apply it to better their homes.