Heritage Outreach Foundation has launched a new educative program to train kids (7-14 years) in Robotics and IoT. The program was launched on the 14th of April, 2022 at Nkoranza in the Bono East of Ghana. HOF envisions training 50 students in the Bono East Jurisdiction quarterly. This is mainly to encourage interest in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics). HOF analytics results from preliminary research earlier this year provided enough grounds for the introduction of this program.
Robotics is an interdisciplinary field that relies on multiple fields of study. These include computer science, mechanical and industrial engineering, creative art, electrical and computer engineering. The program will encourage students to work collaboratively on complex projects at young ages, which builds their soft skills such as social skills and leadership.
As students learn to build robots, they also learn how to code, which in turn improves their foundation of mathematics and science, and also builds collaborative and leadership skills. These are all necessary ingredients for a highly successful future career.
At the launch, The CEO of Heritage Outreach Foundation, Mr Arnold Johnson expressed his profound gratitude for the selfless commitment of his team members. He also acknowledged everyone present, especially the parents who enrolled their kids on the first phase of the program.
In his delivery, He emphasized Programming as the job of the future. However, students can find it boring and overwhelming if taught in a traditional method that relies on theories and abstract notions hence the reason for introducing Robotics.
He concluded that exposing students to coding and experimenting with physical robots can change their perception of Programming, IoT, and general computing.
Mr Isaac Nyarko, the Head of the Tech department at HOF elaborated on the training materials and approach to making a lasting impact on the kids. In his conclusion, I called for the support of individuals and institutions to support this project and for the organisation to reach out to more audience effectively.
Great initiative
This is a very great initiative. As a Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, an Educationist, an entrepreneur and a a parent, I believe strongly that this platform created for learners, especially children, will boost their interest in STEAM education as well as birth in them the creativity they will need as pragmatic problem solvers for our world. Keep up the good work. The seeds you are sowing in them today shall surely become greater fruits tomorrow. Shalom