I am a STEM Advocate - My short reflection

I have been an active STEM advocate for more than 30 years. I started teaching in 1994 at Ilanga Secondary School. The school used to receive after-school support from Eskom engineers, who taught Mathematics and Science in the afternoons, weekends and holidays. The school was well-known for quality performance when it comes to STEM subjects during those years. This venture motivated me to look back to those years when I started the DigiGirlz Initiative. I will forever be a STEM advocate.

Today, I’m joining many STEM or STEAM advocates who are disappointed by the announcement of the Department of Basic Education, a call to make coding and robotics no longer mandatory. Bad as it looks, I draw some strength from my research, “Grade 8 and 9 girls’ perceptions of coding and robotics in a DigiGirlz workshop in the Nkangala District.”. The study found that many developed countries integrated coding and robotics in other subjects like mathematics, science and computer science and not as a standalone subject like what South Africa aimed to do. Countries in Europe use robotics to inspire kids to follow STEM fields as they grow; no wonder these countries have strong engineering skills. As a STEM advocate, I am implementing similar strategies and will continue to incorporate coding and robotics into STEM education to encourage children, particularly girls, to pursue careers in STEM fields, as gender segregation in these areas remains persistent.

Along my journey, I met professionals, supporters, organisations and those who sponsor my name in various platforms, I learnt from the best. I remember my first supervisor who tend down my first research topic and directed me to the DigiGirlz Initiative for my Master's degree dissertation, Dr Jacqueline Batchelor. "I hope you are still proud of me".

Over the past few years, I joined Prof. Jean Greyling, at the Nelson Mandela University and became an unplugged coding ambassador. I saw and tested the possibility of implementing coding and robotics concepts with a low cost budget and resources. It remains feasible to continue our efforts as we incorporate stronger literacy and numeracy into foundational learning throughout the entire country. 

Girls are somewhere in the future #DigiGirlz

"I'm somewhere in the future, and I look better than I look right now." Thandiwe Mbila  from Mkhephuli Secondary School came up with this phrase, and now it has become part of our workshops to motivate learners to picture their future, especially their workplace. It is a gem rap followed by a snapping of fingers and footsteps. I really loved it, especially yesterday with the girls in a DigiGirlz workshop at Morelig Secondary School.

The girls were joined by Sheena Satikge-Sibisi  virtually to share some of her experience during her career journeys. As a young star inspired by how townships were designed in South Africa it motivated her to study town planning.

She shared how she navigated high school troubles using confidence and a positive attitude to show up where no one could imagine. She delivered a powerful lesson to these young stars.

The DigiGirlz workshop is one of the intensive sessions where girls are taught various 21st-century skills, including career guides to STEM. We had a design thinking session where they had to identify problems in various newspaper articles, develop problem statements, brainstorm and design prototype solutions. After this exercise, the girls presented their work to the group for positive criticism and improvement.

Another session involved a coding and robotics lesson where girls were introduced to various platforms to learn coding skills. This time, we used one of the Raspberry Pi Foundation  Scratch projects for beginners, and the girls were excited to get this opportunity to learn the skill.

I take this opportunity to thank Ms. Malevu of Morelig school who was on leave yesterday but made this event happened at her school. My colleagues Duduzile, Glenda and Sheena Satikge-Sibisi for supporting the workshop. I appreciate the support from the Nkangala TVET College  for sponsoring some goodies for the girls.

Vuma Primary School excited about coding and robotics

Vuma Primary School kids had fun and excitement to learn more about coding and robotics subject. On the 24th January 2025, Nomusa Keninda, a coding and robotics instructor joined by Florence Sibiya and Ms Veronica Mahlangu conducted a workshop with the grade 4 class using Juicy Gems and Scratch App.

 

The session started with learners turning a phrase into a song "I'm somewhere in the future and I look much better than I look right now" this was a phrase composed by Thandiwe at Emthunzini Primary School when we were launching their science club.

We significantly use this phrase at Vuma Primary School for the grade 4s to picture their future that will definitely look better than right now. “Our workshop can be summarised in one word "JuicyGemScratch" sounds fantastic as I say it loud”. Keninda said.

The workshop introduced the kids to coding and robotics using a Juicy Gems App developed by Dutoit Agri, a leading producer of fruits and vegetables farm in South Africa. Juicy Gems is a mobile game app that teaches learners how to code through play. In the game, learners pause for a question about farming. A cool game indeed.

A well-known coding app Scratch was also introduced to these learners, where they learn about the Scratch Editor Interface and they were assigned to edit the Costumes of their own preferred “Sprites”. Sprites are characters in Scratch. This activity also assessed their level of creativity and art competencies. “Children love playing with colours and creating their own stories” Mashinini confirmed.

Keninda promised that this workshop was not a once off event with Vuma Primary, they planted a seed that would be nurtured by teachers led by Ms Veronica Mahlangu and the two Tangible Africa Coding Ambassadors, Duduzile Mashinini and Bayanda Zulu.

Elevate Club Launched at Edenvale Village

(95 years old Gogo Makhotha's village)

Gogo Makhotha’s home can be described as a warm vibrant space for joy and connection. A haven of creativity that makes every corner to whisper “Free yourself, you are at Gogo Makhotha’s home”

Assisted by parents who accompanied their kids to their favourite spot on the 26^th December 2024. This gesture suggested that the wait was worth every day and the present moment blended by the sunny day was perfect for the event.

“Today we are here to celebrate the 3^rd anniversary of this event and to officially launch the Elevate Club, your club is here at Edenvale village”  stated the Chairperson of the Club,  Phumla Nkonde. She was talking to the community youngsters and their parents who gathered in the tent for the event. On behalf of the club executives, Phumele Jele,  serving as a Secretary and Nombulelo Zulu, a Treasurer, she invited everyone to support the club.

(Phumla- left and Phumele- Right)

The day was filled with three main activities: team  building activities, creative coding for the little ones and coding tournament using the Juicy Gems App created by Dutoit Agri in collaboration with Tangible Africa.

When the event finally started, everyone was ready to make his or her team proud in all the team building activities planned for the day.  It was confirmed by the their team names that they were ready to compete. Every child was afforded an opportunity to express his or her level of creativity including the little ones, who never minded the rules of the activities but were determined to finished the tasks given.

I once again observed their delight, curiosity as they handle the tablets.  You can tell from their tiny fingers all over the screens as they waited for instructions, indicating that this was their first time using tablets. Mostly completed the game with average to high scores of between 46 to 120. It was challenging to pick the correct answers from the Juicy Gems App question sections because the Dutoit Agri was about fruits farming and they were from livestock farming background. It was going to be easy to answer questions about Gogo Makhotha’s cattles or the late Magwazas’ sheeps. Magwaza was name given to the first farmer in this village and the farm is now owned by his son called Maniki.

The Mpumalanga ICT Club was instrumental in ensuring that this village establish it's own coding club and we acknowledged the support: firstly from Vuma Primary School in eMalahleni for the tablets, Nomzamo Makhotha wh managed to address the curiosity of these youngsters about drone technology and Nomusa Keninda for mentoring and coaching the Elevate Club executive members who are also Tangible Africa's interns and coding ambassadors. Lastly, we salute Gogo Makhotha for making her home, a source of  growth, hope and inspiration to elevate the community of Maserijini village.