Empowering Young Minds: Zimbabwe Flying Labs and the World Science Movement

By Zimbabwe Flying Labs

How young learners interact with the world around them has changed considerably in the last decade. As a result, educators are challenged to make learning fun, engaging, and relevant for all ages. At Zimbabwe Flying Labs, we strive to creatively overcome this challenge by giving young learners access to STEM education programs with a hands-on learning approach.

To continue doing this, we recently partnered with YGA to launch the World Science Movement project. 

World Science Movement is a social responsibility project that seeks to inspire children with the wonders of science and encourage them to adopt a scientific outlook. Its ultimate goal is cultivating and nurturing the next generation of STEM talents. This timely partnership aligns with Zimbabwe Flying Labs' goal of engaging 10,000 young learners across Africa within the next five years. We have started implementing technology-based educational programs that foster creativity and enhance critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

In February of this year, we successfully launched the first phase of the World Science Movement project after receiving 10 Twin Science Basic Kits. These kits are for young learners between the ages of 7 - 13 and contain electronic components for various experiments and coding lessons. The kit's design enriches the learner experience and encourages problem-solving, teamwork, and critical thinking. 

Since receiving the kits, we have engaged with over a dozen youths aged 7 - 12 years old from our existing database of young learners. In the first session, we conducted a pre-test to understand our participant's knowledge of STEM fields and its potentials. After this, the young learners explored the kits independently and were each given workbooks to keep track of their progress as they participated in the different hands-on lessons. 

So far, participants have done a few experiments and completed some lessons, but one still stands out. This lesson is on understanding how electricity works. In this lesson, the participants learned how to connect blocks to form a circuit and calculate voltages. The highlight of the learning experience was understanding how sensors work to save electricity when light is detected and how solar energy works. The learners were asked to think of sustainable energy sources and how they can help work towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7 to Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.

The learners will continue with more high-impact interactive sessions, including the TWIN challenges. We aim to raise confident and civic-minded learners keen to explore how the world around them works and develop innovative solutions to challenges that affect us all. 

Special thanks to World Science Movement, YGA, and WeRobotics for the kits. To find out more about our programs, please get in touch with us.