Dr Kaye Smith, Associate Professor of Physics and STEM Education at St. Catherine University, Minnesota, USA, and advisor to the Working to Advance STEM Education for African Women (WAAW) Foundation, brought her over 12 years of industrial experience in Research and Development, manufacturing and technical service to Nigeria, where she offered a hand-on training for young girls drawn from public and private schools on Robotics and Renewable energy, as part of a two-week camping for the girls selected from various Senior Secondary School (SSS) classes. In this short interview, Smith who holds a Bachelors Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University, said Nigeria could catch up with countries like Nigeria on Project Based Learning (PBL), but only with more practical teachings and learning in. Excerpts;
What is that thing that drives your passion and optimism towards a programme like this?
I feel so optimistic, reason being that changes could only be made from the grassroots. It is my belief that if you want to make a change you have start from the bottom, I mean the grassroots. We are focused on women because they make up almost half of the world's population, and if you empower women, what you have done is to simply bring up the standard of living for many other people in the world. Women, like you know are natural caregivers.
What this translates to is that if you educate women, you also empower more children and the future of the world. Education is a way of teaching the women to be self sufficient and to take care of themselves, talking to these girls I have met in Nigeria shows that they are able to do amazing things, which was amazing to me.
Having interacted with the girls in the camp and probably outside the selected ones, how would you describe the average young Nigerian girl?
What I discovered here is that the girls in Nigeria have very strong technical characters. What I have found out is that they are very good in giving the textbook answers when you ask them questions. The problem is when you ask them to use that knowledge to do something, they find it kind of hard. But I am also amused at their hard work rate and the extent they go in trying to solve problems. This is a really strong point for them.
But you mentioned that they have difficulties solving practical problems. What do you think the reason for this?
The technical knowledge is good, but there is the need to get to put that into practical context by merging the textbook knowledge with hands-on. A lot more hands-on is needed for these girls and other students in Nigerian schools. One of the things we do is to help teachers learn how to integrate hands-on learning with classroom teachings.
Who are the girls you trained in the WAAW camp?
Some of the girls are from private schools, but so many of them are from public schools
What did you and the other facilitators teach the girls in the camp?
We were telling them how to make electricity and some tips on Robotics. We looked at all the different ways of making electricity and took them through practical steps they could use with materials available to make electricity from sources like wind, water and solar (sun). We teach Robotics, computer, water purification, and so many other things that they would have to do with materials that are not far-fetched. Interestingly, they were also able to bring their creativity to bear.
How would you compare them to the American girl-child?
Before now, I did not know any Nigerian kid out there in the United State. But before coming here I just assumed that the kids would be pretty much like other kids in the US. The girls you see here could be my daughter running around. So the line of different is really not much.
However, the difference lies in learning and teaching styles. In the US, it used to be like it is in Nigeria. We were doing straight jacketed learning. Project Based Learning (PBL), is also pretty new in America. It is important to point out that Kids remember things better when they do it. When you bring more senses into something it stays more in the brain. So this whole process is new. So we are not that far from you.
How then can Nigeria catch up?
More hands-on. There is need to introduce more hands-on learning in schools I was really enthused about her because they work so hard to get things solved.
How sustainable is what WAAW is doing?
The founder of WAAW thought about that. One of the ways the programme is working this out is to connect the girls to counselors. All the girls are assigned to groups and counselors are going to be in touch with the girls. Meanwhile, we will be coming back in a couple of years.
shibatm 14 Aug, 2013
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Source: http://www.nigeriaschoolsblog.com/interviews/nigeria-could-catch-up-with-countries-like-usa-dr-kaye-smith/
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