A series of Certification programmes for technology ‘buffs’, youth leaders and teachers interested in starting technology clubs in communities will be conducted by STEM Guyana, in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Telecommunications.
The one-day sessions will be held over three consecutive days from February 1 to 3.
The seminars will begin with 20 coaches from across the country who had signed up online. On the second day, 20 teachers from local public schools will participate in the sessions, while teachers from private schools in Bartica will be prepared for certification on the final day.
The programme will focus on organising and guiding technology clubs, building and programming of robots, and the fundamentals of MIT Scratch programming.
Scratch is a programming language and online community where tech-savvy individuals receive assistance in creating their own interactive stories, games and animations.
The potential coaches will also learn about the International STEM League and how to use the League’s competition software.
Following the Certification programme, the new Coaches will be expected to form clubs and then prepare their teams for competition in the upcoming Scratch and Robotics Guyana tournaments.
These will be officially launched by STEM Guyana at the end of February 2018, and community teams led by more than 50 coaches are expected to participate.
Sessions will begin at 8:30 am in the Conference Room of the Ministry of Public Telecommunications.
This certification programme is the brainchild of one of the STEM Guyana co-founders, Leon Caleb Christian and is being coordinated by another co-founder, Karen Abrams, a Start-up Inclusion Consultant, and Ima Christian who is currently pursuing studies at Stanford University, California, USA.
The sessions will also be facilitated by STEM Guyana’s local Master Trainers.
According to Abrams, programmes such as Lego Mindstorm and MIT Scratch, teach computational thinking, problem-solving, logical reasoning and innovative thinking in a fun and engaging environment.
She believes that “not only will these programmes help students to perform better in school, but they will also make students more aware of problems in their own communities, country, region, world and empower them to work on teams to fix these problems”.
Abrams said the skills derived from these training sessions will enable Guyana to compete globally and to exponentially increase the rate of development.
