Robotics Fun Takes Over Africa
WRO is on a mission to help young people develop their creativity and problem-solving skills in a fun and engaging way. They have been organizing robotics competitions for students aged 8-19 years in over 90 countries worldwide since 2004.
We, at camden.education, are on a mission to spread WRO fun across Africa.
DIVERSITY
WRO is accessible to young people from around the world, regardless of background.
TEAMWORK
Teams succeed by embracing collaboration and build friendships, integrity and character in the process.
EMPOWERMENT
WRO inspires and prepares young people to be digital pioneers, innovators and engineers.
July 2023: Smart robots arise in Zimbabwe
On July 4th, 2023, preparations were going full swing at the Oasis Hub in Bulawayo: not only was WRO about to take place for the first time in Zimbabwe, but the opening ceremony was to be broadcast live on YouTube.
Students and educators outsmarted everyone with their smart technology solutions. Their contributions epitomize their passion, creativity and commitment to challenging the status quo and improving people’s lives.
Huge thanks to our like-minded partners for making this possible: Irish Aid, Vickie and the Girls in STEM Trust team, Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, National University of Science and Technology, Learning Factory and Telco Broadband.
And the winners are…
2
1
3
June 2023: Fueling the STEM Flame for Girls in South Sudan
When Brendan (a.k.a. Speedie) Smith is out of Africa, it usually isn’t for very long. On May 28th he was joined by Program Lead Linda Cardiff to start building a sustainable community of practice around STEM education in the Loreto school.
On their busy agenda: teacher upskilling and preparing for the first ever WRO competition to be organized in the world’s youngest country.
Students used their creativity and problem-solving skills to conceptualize a robot using Micro:bit that addresses the WRO competition theme ‘Connecting the World’.
December 2022: first WRO competition is organized in Tanzania
🤖 Wires, connectors, creativity and planning:
all the ingredients were in the pot to build a great robot!
The event involved 4 schools from Dar es Salaam: Jangwani Secondary School, Chang’ombe Secondary School, Manzese Secondary School and Mabibo Secondary School.
For 2 fun-filled days, students played with computers, sensors, controllers, scratch, Arduino, micro:bits and micro units.
Six coaches helped students build their awesome robots: Josephine Sepeku and Michael Thomas from DTBi, Julius Mbepo from Fursa Lab-DTBi, Patrick Kimario from the Taifa Tecknovation Hub, Hashimu Rajabu and Gilya Sungi from the University of Dar es Salaam
And the winner is…
Jangwani Secondary School
The jury was truly impressed with these students’ Security Motion Sensor and Parking Assistant project.
Well done, #DreamTeam!
She said it first…
“Robotics is a microcosm of technologies that support STEM education, at the crossroads of physics, coding, engineering, design, construction, creativity and teamwork. Learning becomes fun as students develop an intuitive understanding of physics applied to solve real-world problems in an innovative way. As an educator, I could not dream of a more comprehensive, fruitful approach to learning.”
Josephine Sepeku
Project Manager at DTBi,
WRO Lead in Tanzania,
Lead Youth and Girls Connection Officer at WATED
Did you know?
WRO participants code for roughly
65 hours before a regional event
…and much more ahead of national and global events!
(Source: WRO annual report).
In 2019, WRO Germany conducted a study on what the students learn from participating in the competition: it showed that WRO has a positive impact on students’ skills – including soft skills:
In 79% of cases, WRO participants develop problem solving skills.
