By Phyllis Ntananga
Following a successful partnership between Young Engineers Uganda and Kabojja International School last month, the school experienced its first memorable Science Week in its entire history.
On Tuesday, February 14, the Young Engineers team set off to Kabojja International School, in Muyenga, South East of West Kampala City, to introduce their pupils to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) during the Science week organized by the School.
The program started with pupils in year 6 and 5 who were introduced to the Lego Challenge kit used during our e2 STEM sessions. The children shared with the class what they wanted to be in future, most of which were science careers.
The next session kicked off with children in Kindergarten 1, 2 and Reception class learning about the things that make up a car. In the first 15 minutes, our instructors taught them the theory behind the parts that make up a car and which parts they had to include in building the Lego brick made car.
The next 30 minutes after the theory, the children set off themselves to build. They put wheels, seats, walls, motors, and battery and eventually played with the car models they had built.
In the afternoon, pupils in year 1, 2, 3 and 4 got a chance to experience the fun STEM program when they learnt about Stable structures(items that cannot easily fall/break) and Unstable structures (items that can easily fall/break).
This group, unlike the lower class of the kids, built a Pirate Ship to demonstrate the Stable and Unstable structure and played with their model.
The main aim of the collaboration with Young Engineers was to have every child in the school experience this awesome program that grooms children to become future Innovators, Scientists and Creative Thinkers.
On Wednesday, children in year 6 were able to learn about the Crane, and what makes it be.
Our keen instructors took the pupils throughout the theory of what it is used for, the science methods that enable its operation plus building the crane and controlling its operation through use of the battery.
The pupils in Year 5 and 4 learnt about a Plough, where and how it is used, how it helps farmers to grow the food that the children eat at home and eventually got a basic understanding about agriculture and the science principles the ploughs use to operate.
Using our LEGO Challenge Kit, the children were able to build and play with the models they had built, which was the most exciting part to them during the sessions.
Pupils in Year 1, Kindergarten 1, and Kindergarten 2 and Reception Class learnt about Friendship (having a best friend), the importance of having a friend, and built their friendship model using our Big Builders(program for children age 4-6 years) Kits, which had just arrived at Young Engineers Uganda from Israel, the night before.
On Friday, Young Engineers Uganda exhibited the models built by the children to their parents and our instructors were able to present to them the benefits of this program.
As the children were exhibiting their different science projects, one student, Queen Kajwengye, presented a Cake Mixer made out of our bricks as her science project to her teachers.
It was amazing that her project emerged as one of the winning projects made during the science week.
If you would like to organize a STEM workshop for your school, institution or for parents at your workplace, please follow this link Workshop to order for a workshop from Young Engineers Uganda.
Follow our video link to get a feel about how Young Engineers Uganda spiced up the Kabojja International School’s Science Week.
