Matthews Ridge teacher partners with STEMGuyana to roll out historic robotics seminar

Nandia Spencer and a colleague at the robotics event
Nandia Spencer and a colleague at the robotics event

Matthews Ridge has every reason to be particularly proud of Nandia Spencer, the Senior Mistress of the community’s primary school, who, by sheer force of will and against the kinds of odds that probably would not surface in coastal communities, recently organised and launched a two-day robotics seminar that targeted adult club leaders and hundreds of children from the community.

Partnering with STEMGuyana, Spencer rose to the occasion to ensure that the children of her community would not be excluded from the technology of the future that will, eventually, impact the Barima/Waini, as much as it will the rest of the country.

Nandia is one of a growing number of forward-looking local educators and other enlightened Guyanese who are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that two-thirds of children currently receiving an education in the nation’s schools are likely down the road, to be employed in jobs that currently do not even exist.  Preparing today’s children for those jobs is a considerable challenge, but Nandia has come to terms with the reality that teachers have little choice.

According to the World Economic Forum 2016 report, there exists a list of 21st century skills that all young people simply must have if they are to compete successfully for jobs in the future.  Those skills include technical, creativity, curiosity, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, grit, leadership and adaptability. It is these skills which an after-school STEM club programme, including robotics, coding, and working on teams to respond to challenges, will develop.

Currently, the STEMGuyana programme is partnering with the Department of Youth, the Library programme, the Office of the First Lady, private schools, churches and other civil society groups to bring STEM clubs to communities all across Guyana.  The programme includes Foundation, Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced robotics curricula which is supported by ten weeks of lesson plans and which will culminate in the nation’s first ever National Robotics Challenge which will take place in July. It was difficult for Ms Spencer to contain herself during her assessment of the outcomes of the May 18th and 19th programme hosted by the Matthews Ridge ICT hub, her emotional presentation reflected her awareness of the significance of the initiative. There was a point in time, she said, when the lack of promised support for the initiative had tempted her to postpone the event. Finally, she had reached out to her own family members who “came good,” making the programme possible. “I didn’t want my students to wait a minute longer than necessary and as it turned out they were excited and engaged and learned the technology very quickly. They are now all looking forward to club meetings to learn more and to participate in the national challenge. I believe we made the right decision to move forward,” she said. The initial initiative behind her, she continues to seek out sponsorship to help with the purchase of a projector and robot kits for the community STEM club.

Members of STEM Guyana, Master Trainers Aisha Peters, Horace Moseley along with ‘Dream Team’ members Joshua Reece and Yvette Barrow travelled to Matthews Ridge to participate in the region’s first-of-its- kind event.  Another robotics programme will be launched in Port Kaituma on Friday May 31st. In July, First Lady Sandra Granger will host a robotics training module as part of her ICT training programme schedule for Mabaruma.