STEM outreach and mentorship can often make a difference in the lives of engineers and help to overcome any social-economical barriers to their careers. Often, many engineers who were the recipients of such assistance are often motivated to give back to students of their local and regional communities. The Kenya STEM Camp was created as a way to invest in pre-university students of Kenya and help to develop the technical and professional skills of the engineers who mentor program students.
The Kenya Stem Camp 2021 was attended by 128 students from 9 schools and their teachers over an 11-week period in the fall of 2021. During this time, students were introduced to a variety of STEM topics in different ways. Students were trained on machine learning which covered practical exercises on sentiment analysis. Block-based programming was introduced and also included practical exercises. Basic design and problem solving lessons provided students with opportunities to present their innovative ideas. Students from two schools were able to visit local business Gearbox Kenya, where they interacted with electrical, mechanical and design engineers and enjoyed seeing the practical application of math and science concepts. Eleven Volunteers led the program efforts, and mentorship was available to students from local engineers eager to share their experiences.
Additionally, a teachers’ workshop was attended by 9 teachers from different schools across Kenya. The goals met were introducing teachers to Scratch and S4A tools as well as how to use code/computing in Physics, Computer and Math classes and finally a demo on blinking LEDs using Arduino. Teachers appreciated the need for introducing tech to students early on in their various subjects.
Kenya STEM Camp 2021 was funded by the IEEE Pre-University STEM Portal Grant Program in 2021.