SAP, said that, aside FIRST LEGO League spreading rapidly as people and organisations are beginning to see the value, the greater impact depends on leveraging technology to shape and transform teaching.
Mr. Olajide Ajayi, a support team manager at SAP who doubles as the coordinator, FIRST® LEGO® League Nigeria, told Nigeria CommunicationsWeek that the programme combines the pedagogy of promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) literacy with that of teaching social values.
According to Ajayi, FLL has three components, “First, the robotics. Secondly, there is the social part that is the Core Value. Here, they learn how to function in a team or unit. Even as they compete against others, they should learn to accommodate one another. We have an award for “Coopetition” and “Gracious Professionalism”. Thirdly, the project; where they need to carry out research on some real-life issue.
On why the programme should be sustained, he said, “We need this program to reach as many Nigerian kids as possible. We want to reach as many schools as possible. We are grateful that organisation like SAP is committed to this project and pthers like MTN are ready to replicate this in South-South region. We ensure that this gets to the public schools for free through sponsorships as this is an opportunity they would otherwise not have. For the private schools, they can purchase equipment from the LEGO Educational Distributor and join in the competition. Lots of schools have expressed interest because they see the benefits.
“Meanwhile, we are making sure the schedule does not interfere with the class studies. However, schooling and education are like two sides of a coin. They are mutually inclusive.
He said that part of what the kids learn is to carry out a project, and they have to stand before the judges to defend whatever solution they came up with; a replica of what happens during the final (tertiary education) project.
“We are teaching them self-expression; that is one of the keys to entrepreneurship. To be self-sufficient, you need to pitch your idea in a convincing manner for an investor to buy into it. We are surely building a solid foundation for these kids. It is a win-win for universities who will be enrolling candidates already grounded in the practical aspects of computing and software applications,” Ajayi said.
He added that each team will work in their school and the program does not end after the season as the schools will continue working on honing their programming skills in readiness for the next season and international competitions. For this season our teams have been invited to the World Festival in the USA (April 27-30) and Open European Championship in Tenerife, Spain(May 4th- 7th).
Winners of the Trash Trek season are Kings College (Lagos); team Glisten Optimistic (Abuja) and Government Secondary School Elekahia (Port-Harcourt) and Air conditioner made by Rumeme Girls School.