Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - GO-GA (Go-Lab Goes Africa, Deploying Contextually Engaging Digital Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Educative Content in Africa by Adapting the Proven Go-Lab Ecosystem to Local Needs)

Teaser

Nations that have developed high technological capacities understand the importance of world-class STEM education all too well, and they are increasingly strengthening their scientists and STEM institutions to build strong reputations and compete for the best international...

Summary

Nations that have developed high technological capacities understand the importance of world-class STEM education all too well, and they are increasingly strengthening their scientists and STEM institutions to build strong reputations and compete for the best international students, faculties and resources. The Go-Lab ecosystem, as created in the Go-Lab project and now being further developed and implemented in Europe in the ongoing H2020 Next-Lab sister project, offers students rich, challenging, and socially embedded science and technology experiences that shape their knowledge, together with investigative, reflective and social abilities. By starting at a young age, Go-Lab intends to increase the enrolment in science and technology education (STEM); by offering engaging instruction it aims to decrease the level of dropout of students; and by combining Inquiry Based Learning (IBL) and 21st century skills it expects to contribute to a better-equipped workforce. All these benefits are dearly needed in Africa; therefore thanks to the opportunity of the H2020 call ICT-39-2016-2017, the purpose of the GO-GA project is to take Go-Lab outside of Europe, to adapt its ecosystem to African requirements and to roll it out on the African continent, which cannot go without an extensive training of teachers in pedagogical and technical skills.

Work performed

\"Half-way through the project, at the end of Period 1, GO-GA is on track with achieving its objective.
(WP1) Effective adoption of Go-Lab in the developing world has meant adapting the existing ecosystem platforms as well as learning tools and content and creating new resources to fit within the curricula and the constraints of developing countries, such as taking into consideration availability and type of devices, lack of steady power supply and affordable and reliable internet access. Through a first phase of project requirements (pedagogical and technical constraints) analysis, complemented by regular feedback collection from teachers, GO-GA has released two versions of the localised and adapted Go-Lab Ecosystem at M9 and 18 to be tested in 2 pilot deployment programmes (at M14 and M23).

(WP2) A first set of 6 model resources, i.e. inquiry learning spaces (ILSs) with their associated labs designed for the 3 pilot countries were co-created by newly onboarded teachers and project partners, early on in the project. These model resources were the basis for the development of 208 additional ILSs in WP3 & 4 to date. In parallel with the technical (WP1) and content developments, the GO-GA partners worked on creating the communities of stakeholders who would increase the likelihood of a successful deployment of the Go-Lab Ecosystem across the three partner countries. An advisory board was set up including key organisations – ministries, teacher training associations, teacher training universities - involved in education in each pilot country.

(WP3) Of particular importance were the identification of “trail-blazer” teachers within these communities, i.e. those early-adopters who would then become champions for GO-GA in their countries and beyond. A total of 105 so-called “Master Teachers” have been selected by local ad hoc Committees and trained – both through intensive focused boot camps and hands-on local in-school training activities - in using Go-Lab and IBL in the classroom and are now mentoring a group of 115 additional “on-boarded” teachers in our three pilot countries. The creation of GO-GA trained, school-based teacher groups was stimulated by the local GO-GA partners to enable better peer support and emulation, being a sustainable approach for GO-GA implementation. These groups, the STEM Cells™ and the Buddy Groups™ are now central to the classroom pilot experiments.

(WP4) In the GO-GA Pilot #1, 61 individual classes were taught by 55 teachers to over 1600 students using 61 ILSs in 44 schools. Feedback from teachers and students have been analysed as part of D4.2 (due at M19); overall the experience has been a very positive one with lessons to be learnt for Pilot#2.

(WP5) Looking beyond the project lifetime, the Take-Up and Scalability programme aims to a wider roll-out of GO-GA in the 3 partner countries and in additional African countries. In Benin, Kenya and Nigeria, key strategic partnerships with regional and national institutions are being forged; 68 key players have been identified to date to involve in preparing the strategy. In the second half of the project, this issue will take centre-stage.

(WP6) Highlights of our outreach activities (i.e. dissemination, communication and exploitation of the results) so far include 790 visitors on our www.go-ga.org website/month, 4 newsletters sent to 400+ subscribers, 946 participants at 35 outreach events, 478 followers on our Twitter account, 5799 followers of our Facebook page and 144 followers on LinkedIn.
\"

Final results

\"Infrastructure limitations across the continent (access to the internet; access to physical labs) make technology enabled education of STEM an exception rather than the norm across the continent. However there is a marked trend towards it and GO-GA is helping accelerate this trend in the 3 pilot countries, Kenya, Republic of Benin and Nigeria. Before being able to roll out the Go-Lab ecosystem it needed to be repurposed and new tools (apps, interfaces, labs) created for the African market, to make it suitable for adoption in schools. At M18 of the project, the Go-Lab and Graasp Platforms have been localised to fit needs identified across the 3 pilot countries. A first release of the updated ecosystem (including tools such as apps, labs and support structures) has been tested as part of the first GO-GA pilot deployment (WP4). In parallel 220 teachers have been trained to use the Ecosystem and the Inquiry-Based learning teaching methodology. In the GO-GA Pilot #1, 61 individual classes were taught by 55 teachers to over 1600 students using 61 ILSs in 44 schools. An analysis of that pilot is ongoing the results of which will be available as part of D4.2 (M19) to report of any “improved learning outcomes (and) the overall experience of learning STEM subjects in classrooms” using Go-Lab and IBL. A second release has just taken place which focused on off-line use of the Ecosystem.

GO-GA is all about international technology and knowledge transfer between Europe and Africa. Our project is contributing to reinforcing the international dimension of the ICT and Innovation aspects of H2020 and helps create a higher level of international cooperation with low and middle income countries in ICT R&D and Innovation, focusing on areas that are beneficial to the target region. The GO-GA local partners are collaborating with key stakeholders such as teacher training networks and ministries to ensure the newly established ecosystem can be anchored in the national curricula.

The end goal is to ensure the sustainable uptake of GO-GA results within the three pilot countries and four more associate countries and ultimately to roll the Go-Lab and IBL out across the whole continent. The plans for the take up and scalability of GO-GA are still being shaped with the help of our Advisory Board - 10 key stakeholders of education from our three pilot countries. A draft of a strategy was made available to the AB at M17.\"

Website & more info

More info: https://go-ga.org/.