The STEM Guyana organisation is currently engaging the administrators of the COLAACO Primary School in consultations which are expected to lead to the signing of a two-year agreement that will provide a STEM-focussed education for attendees of the institution.
The COLAACO Primary School is a private kindergarten to 6th Grade school located in Thomas Lands, Georgetown, which exists to provide quality educational opportunities for children from low-income households. The goal of the school, according to its administrators, is to provide a STEM-focussed education for students in every Grade which will afford every student from kindergarten to the 6th grade, a chance to learn to code, a skill that will strengthen their competency in mathematics.
The agreement between COLAACO and STEM Guyana will afford students of the school the option of becoming members of the school’s robotics club. The agreement will also position the school to become internationally STEM-certified within two years.
Once the collaboration is concretised students in each Grade will immediately begin to receive one hour of coding instruction each week.
STEM certification commits schools to ensuring that students work independently and collaboratively in an inquiry-based learning environment that encourages finding creative solutions to authentic and complex problems. The facility also ensures that students use technology resources to conduct research, demonstrate creative and critical thinking, and communicate and work collaboratively as well as ensure that the students demonstrate their learning through performance-based assessments and express their conclusions through elaborate explanations of their thinking.
STEM Guyana Coordinator Karen Abrams told Stabroek Business during an interview on Wednesday that teachers at COLAACO School have completed a workshop in Scratch coding and will begin to incorporate integrated learning coding exercises into their homework assignments. She said that the Scratch coding instruction classes will be delivered in the school’s computer laboratory and that the classes will be co-delivered by COLAACO and STEM Guyana facilitators.
Meanwhile, the school will identify members of staff to be trained as coaches for the school’s robotics club. Members of the club will learn to build and programme robots and will receive instructions that will enable them to strengthen their mathematics skills and work in teams to respond to challenges in the science and technology-related disciplines. Simultaneously, Abrams says, the students will have an opportunity to develop their collaboration, communication, problem solving and critical thinking skills.
Having worked for the past three years to develop a solid in-school interest in the STEM-related disciplines in schools in Guyana, Abrams says that the organisation is delighted “that we are beginning to secure some level of traction in the school system. We are beginning to see a more enlightened understanding of the developmental relevance of the STEM-related disciplines and we are looking forward to broadening the base of our work schedule to embrace the wider school community,” Abrams was quoted as saying.
Asked to outline the challenges impacting the introduction of a STEM programme across the school system in Guyana, Abrams responded, “We try not to see things as challenges. I much prefer to make the comment that if the results of our STEM programme are to be realised and to pay dividends, then it will be necessary for us to find the funding for what we are doing. I should add that funding is not just a state responsibility. The private sector too is set to benefit from a STEM-ready population and I expect that the private sector will be no less prepared than government to help us roll out an initiative that is closely aligned to the country’s development.”
Abrams said that STEM Guyana was “excited to engage with the COLAACO School to help to prepare their students to play an active role in using technology to contribute to the development of Guyana and the region,” while adding, “Our goal is to ensure that early technology childhood education reflects opportunities to enhance critical thinking.”
