Innovating with Science and Technology at Accra Science Hack Day

The first ever Accra Science Hack Day, held at iSpace in Osu on 15th and 16th August 2015, brought together students, hobbyists, technologists and science enthusiasts from different parts of Ghana. They worked individually or in teams on interesting projects, either tackling a key societal problem or just having fun with science. It was an interesting learning experience for me, even though I participated as one of the facilitators, alongside Kobe Subramaniam, Anisha Tailor and Myf Owen (from Lab_13 Ghana), and Thomas Tagoe (GH Scientific).

I was very glad to see Junior Camp Internship Programme trainee Maame Yaa Serwaa expertly manage the registration desk and provide on-site support to iSpace Community Manager, Akua Baning. Akua ensured that all aspects of the event went on smoothly.

We were welcomed to the event by JCIP & iSpace intern Maame Yaa

Most of the hackers took a bit of time to arrive at iSpace at the advertised time on Day 1, which appeared to be a slow Saturday, but when they walked in their focus and level of engagement was consistent throughout the period of the programme. I spotted a few former students of mine from my Ketasco days. Lab_13 Ghana had also registered two of the beneficiaries of their hands-on science sessions, Samuel Darko and Perkins Frimpong. The two 14-year olds are pupils of Solid Hope Basic School in the Bosumtwe District.

Accra Science Hack Day kicks off at iSpace! Come to Osu and be part of the revolution #AccraScienceHackDay #iSpaceGh pic.twitter.com/0eElFwa5lH

— iSpacegh (@iSpaceGh) August 15, 2015

Kobe and I gave quick five minute lightening talks, after a brief welcome speech by Akua. I touched on citizen science as a tool for research and civic participation. I explained how the research, technology, and civic communities can come together to address challenges such as power cuts, pollution, and transport in Accra. Kobe's presentation was on innovating with micro-controller systems such as Arduino and Rapberry Pi. He used examples from Ghana and elsewhere to illustrate the ubiquity of these systems in an increasingly technological world.

Should we build robots that think like us? #AccraScienceHackDay #IspaceGh pic.twitter.com/tgue4pQbbH

— harryakligoh (@harryakligoh) August 15, 2015

The teams soon got down to business for the rest of Day 1 and most of Day 2.

Team Dumsor Automate developing their idea on Day 1

Day two #accrasciencehackday. S.P backpack (Solar Powered/Samuel and Perkins) is finished! For your charging needs. pic.twitter.com/yDqeLu4bi0

— Lab_13 Ghana (@lab_13ghana) August 16, 2015

At the end of Day 2, six teams made presentations:

1. Smart Borla: a refuse collection beam that sends signals to the collecting company when it is full
2. QBay: uses augmented reality to engage and enhance the learning experience for students.
3. Dumsor Automate: a system that enables remote control of electric gadget especially during power cuts
4. SP Backpack: solar-powered backpack that enables charging of mobile devices on-the-go
5. Secnet: a suite of online security tools
6. Gospel Scientist: explaining biblical principles using scientific demos
7. Linkages: an art piece depicting connections (visualise spider web) through the woldwide web.

Q-Bay presenting their tool for interactive learning via virtual reality #AccraScienceHackDay #iSpaceGh pic.twitter.com/Nxqouegwwx

— iSpacegh (@iSpaceGh) August 16, 2015

The judges, Fiifi Baidoo (iSpace), Kobe, and Tom had the unenviable task of picking out the winners from the pack.

Before the results were announced, Tom spoke on a new Wellcome Trust funded initiative we've been cooking up for quite some time now called SHAPE (Shaping Healthy Attitudes and Protecting the Environment). This project, led by GH Scientific, is aimed at engaging Junior High School students to analyse and design solutions to environmental health challenges in Accra.

Back to the main proceedings. Everyone was excited to learn how the teams placed at the end of two days of ideation and prototyping. The third position went to Dumsor Automate, the second to Q-Bay, and quite remarkably, SP Backpack from Lab_13 Ghana placed first! The boys, who earlier won the Boatastic boat-making competition (Titanic 2015), scientists-in-residence, and everyone associated with Lab_13 were over the moon. The win validates the idea of giving learners space to experiment and discover things for themselves.

Celebrating Samuel and Perkins Credit: Lighyer Foundation Facebook page

Overall, the event (#AccraScienceHackDay) was a great one and has the potential to become a mainstay on the Ghanaian tech circuit. Its hands-on nature challenges participants to move away from just talking about problems, and fantasising about possibilities, to actually building stuff, test and receive feedback. Going forward, I would like to see earnest efforts made to sustain the various projects started. Additionally, it'd be really cool to expand the event geographically, so other regions in Ghana will benefit. Hopefully, future events will see more innovations from fields aside electronics. There is huge potential for bio-hacking and data analytics projects in our context.

Huge thanks to iSpace for bringing such a truly remarkable event to Ghana. Commendations also go to Science Hack Day, the global organisers, and EndNote for their sponsorship.

If you were to participate in a Science Hack Day event, what project would you work on?

Capturing the Second Junior Camp Ketasco

Students and guests enjoying themselves during the ice-breaker

It seems like a long time ago when GhanaThink’s Junior Camp programme was birthed at Ketasco. On that fateful day, mentors from different professional domains converged at the school to give students insights into fields such as as engineering, computing, entrepreneurship, and banking. The buzz generated on campus that day was like no other, leaving everyone clamouring for more. The Junior Camp train has since stopped at numerous destinations: Kalpohin, Pojoss, Presec, Krogiss, Labone, Armesco, Smasco, etc. Counting them all would be an arduous task! To sustain some of the benefits derived from Junior Camps, a GhanaThink team led by Thelma Boamah is developing the Junior Camp Internship Programme (JCIP). 

After a few tries, the second Junior Camp Ketasco finally happened on 15th November. As usual, we had mentors from diverse backgrounds, from within the school to corporate Accra and beyond. I was especially thrilled to have new good friends, Tom Tagoe of GH Scientific and Heather Beem of Practical Education Network, around to guide students in science and engineering respectively. 

The programme started about an hour later than it should. After welcome greetings, introduction, and the ice-breaker session, a team from Webster University (Philomina and Leonard) addressed the students on educational and growth opportunities open to them in that institution. They asserted that the international environment and liberal arts curriculum provided by Webster would prepare them adequately for the future. After this session, we had two rounds of mentoring. Students were free to choose from a wide array of topics, led by various mentors, as presented below:

• Agbenyegah Kirk – Software Development

• Thomas Tagoe – Neuroscience/Science

• Heather Beem – Engineering

• Emmanuel S. Amekplenu – Leadership and Banking

• Akpah Prince – Media

• Alorwu Noah – Mobile Learning

• Seyram Kartey - Game Development

• Daniel Owusu – Academic Excellence/Volunteering

• Yayra Tay Thomsen – Fashion/Personal Branding

• Leonard Suransky – International Relations

• V.N. Tamakloe – Leadership

• Philomina Abakah – Customer Service/Marketing

• Gameli Adzaho – Environmental Health

Mentors introducing themselves to the gathering

The gathering broke for lunch after the second mentoring round. Subsequently, we had two optional sessions. The first one focused on various educational experiences of mentors (Heather, Yayra and Tom) outside Ghana, while the second one dealt with transitioning from Ketasco to the outside world. I was with the latter group, and I must say we had very interesting insights shared by alumni who completed recently and those from earlier year groups. The original panel consisted of Junior Camp lead Nathaniel Alpha, Benjamin Boafor (medical practitioner), and Kirk Agbenyegah (software developer). Along the way we were joined by an enthusiastic bunch of old students who happened to pass through campus after attending a funeral in Keta. People like Ebenezer, Efo Dela, Setorli Tamakloe, Setorli’s sister, and Jeremiah, all shared their “dzolalian tales”. The take away, really, was to utilise various opportunities created in the school environment as these opportunities (for growth) would not be available in the future. I was pleased to learn majority of the panellists passed through the Writers and Debaters Club, a club I’ve been affiliated with since my Ketasco days.

 

Nat making a point on the "life in Ketasco" panel

Junior Camp Ketasco was a big success thanks to the efforts of the GhanaThink team, and also staff like Victor Tamakloe, John Attipoe, Noah Alorwu, and some students who helped to organise stuff around the campus. One-on—one feedback received from the mentors was positive. Someone said something along the lines of “you have a great school here”. The students expressed their delight too, as they shared useful new things they picked up from the sessions they joined. The Junior Camp programme is about awakening and nurturing the inner potential of Ghanaian students. The whole enterprise is led by Nathaniel Alpha, who was part of the very first Junior Camp team. It is gratifying to see what was started in Ketasco quickly scale to have national impact, led by one of the school’s products. That is the kind of confidence we want to build in the future generation.

Have you ever participated in a Junior Camp or mentoring event? What were your experiences?

Integration of ICT into Teaching of Mathematics, English and Integrated Science (MEIS) Workshop

I was part of the two-man team from Keta Senior High Technical School that participated in the fifth batch of the "Integration of ICT into Teaching of Mathematics, English and Integrated Science" (MEIS) workshop. The training was held at the Ghana Education Staff Development Institute (GESDI), Saltpond, Central Region from 6th to 10th May 2013. This workshop comes after the digital media training for teachers we hosted in Keta last year.

Concept maps are simple, yet powerful, tools

Background

The “Integration of ICT into the Teaching of Mathematics, English and Integrated Science” workshop, part of the Ghana SHS Connectivity project, is aimed at training 800 teachers (from 400 schools) to lead the integration of ICT into teaching and learning in their schools and beyond. Through funding from USAID, the Ghana SHS Connectivity project is employing a phased approach to ICT Integration in teacher development. The main activities include: Installation of Internet services in 400 Senior High Schools, development of ICT curriculum and framework for integration, identification of ICT competency framework, development of digital content evaluation framework and identification of digital resources. The overall objective is to improve the quality of teaching and learning in Ghanaian schools, triggering improved student performance in the specified subjects. Partners for the project include the Ministry of Education (MoE), Ghana Education Service (GES), Global E-Schools and Communities Initiative (GESCI), United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Vodafone.

Course Structure

The course facilitators employed discussions and group activities to engage participants, amplying demonstrating what teachers are expected to do after the training. The main topics covered were:

• Day 1: Introduction, Review of Computer Networks and Techniques of Presentations 
• Day 2: Concept Mapping, ICT Policy and TPACK 
• Day 3: Didactic Lesson Plans and Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) 
• Day 4: Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and Learning Objects 
• Day 5: Micro Teaching and Closing Ceremony

Impressions and Recommendations 

• The workshop is a step in the right direction as it equips teachers with the right skills, techniques and attitudes in the information age to nurture 21st century scholars 
• The facilitators did an excellent job. It was important and admirable to have fellow teachers coordinate such an important activity as they are better suited to relate to Ghanaian education contexts
• It would have been very helpful if stress was placed more on digital content creation (by teachers to meet peculiar needs of Ghanaian curriculum) rather than just content consumption. 
• More focus should be placed on mobile learning as current trends show that it is the future 
• It was commendable that a discussion-focused model was used throughout the workshop, but it would have been more worthwhile if more time was created to enable teachers share their experiences and ideas with regards to the use of tech in education 
• Reliable access to Internet must be ensured for future workshops of this nature
• Schools must endeavour to send representatives who already have some basic knowledge of ICT since the workshop is focused on integrating ICT into education and not teaching ICT skills from the scratch. 
• Teachers trained should transfer knowledge and skills back to their schools and communities. 
• Future workshops be held to address pertinent topics not covered in the first iteration

Read the full report of the programme

Find teaching resources on the MEIS Ghana website

It was refreshing to find more Ghanaian teachers who are actively using ICTs to make learning more effective and fun for students, like members of the Ghana Educators Network!

Report on First Junior Camp Held at Ketasco

Leti Games CEO Eyram Tawia poses with Seyram and Kennedy

One of the best ways to encourage learning among young people is to encourage them to take up initiatives. By so doing, they make mistakes, learn from their mistakes, correct them and become better. A Chinese proverb captures it pretty well: "what I hear, I forget, what I see I remember, what I do, I understand." Students of Keta Senior High School (Ketasco) demonstrated the above saying aptly when they organised the first Junior Camp Ketasco as part of this year's SRC Week celebration.

Junior Camp was put together by the Students' Representative Council (SRC) of the school in collaboration with GhanaThink Foundation. The idea for a Junior Camp was birthed when students of Ketasco participated in BarCamp Ho and BarCamp Tema last year. Realising the immense exposure and network they gained from BarCamp, Nathaniel Alpha and co. decided that the rest of their colleagues must have a taste of the pie.

Ice breaker: Ato "vimming up" Ketasco students

Before Junior Camp, also dubbed "Ketasco Goes Professional", selected students and teachers visited various basic schools in the area to educate their pupils on the opportunities and challenges of senior high school education. I was at Tettekope Global Evangelical Basic School with Yvonne and Robert who advised the students on courses available at Ketasco, admission requirements, time management and career opportunities. The duo did a brilliant job, as they shared their own experiences with the younger ones.

Junior Camp focused on skills acquisition and career development. As such students were set up into mentoring sessions with mentors from different fields. They had the opportunity to ask questions and were given tips on how they could develop their talents and succeed today's challenging global climate. Mentors were drawn from the school, GhanaThink Foundation and industry.

Eunice shares her story with students as she is flanked by future engineers

Eunice Ogbugo, award-winning CEO of Eugo Terrano, gave the keynote address in which she touched on her journey from senior high school at St Roses to her current career. She explained her initial difficulties with certain subjects in school and how her determination and perseverance helped her to overcome those challenges. Eunice also took time to answer questions form the students.She was a huge inspiration.

The following mentoring sessions were held:

• Entrepreneurship with focus on mobile communications and opportunities in the Keta area: Famous Avuletey
• Engineering and Innovation: Ato Ulzen-Appiah
• IT and Project Management Nehemiah Attigah and Seyram Ahiabor
• Journalism: Senam Oyiadjo
• Start-ups: John Armah
• Talent Development: Joel Degue
• Creative Arts and Creative Writing: Eli Aidam and Emmanuel Adonu
• Banking: Arnold Parker and Richmond Ovadio
• Public Speaking and Motivational Speaking: Courage Tetteh, Solomon Adawu and Rose Zaney
• Fashion: Yayra Tay
• IT Training and Education: Makafui Nyamadi
• Sofware Development and Games: Eyram Tawia
• Marketing: Donald Ward
• Teaching: David Kattah
• Digital Literacy: Eldad Nutakor and Gameli Adzaho

Seyram (arm raised) and Nehemiah in action during IT mentoring session

Read more accounts of Junior Camp Ketasco by Enock Nyamador and Eldad Nutakor.

Cross-section of Junior Camp mentors after the event

I believe that creating more learning opportunities outside the classroom will go a long way to buttress what is learnt in class. It will also expose students to the realities of life and motivate them to be more serious with school work. Thank you to all the mentors who took time off to spur the next generation on, and the many others who could not come, due to the unfavourable time, but were in Keta in spirit. To Nathaniel Alpha, Ato Ulzen-Appiah, Enock Nyamador, Eldad Nutakor, Mr. Norvor and everyone else who gave their support, thank you for making this happen.

A Round-up of a Very Eventful 2012

The year 2012 is just under two hours of receding into history. Since it's been a loaded year, it would be improper to let it pass without a recap of notable events or activities undertaken. In no particular order, here are some highlights of my 2012:

Vodafone Broadband in Keta

The year started on a good note. It was finally possible for individuals and organisations in my town to sign up for Vodafone's broadband Internet service. I quickly applied and by February, I started surfing to my heart's delight. My joy's been cut off twice due to the theft of the copper cables that delivered last-mile connectivity. As I blog, the service has not be restored after the second interruption. Oh! :(.

Diplo Internet Governance Capacity Building Programme

I got a scholarship from Diplo Foundation to pursue an online course in Introduction to Internet Governance, as part of their Capacity Building Programme for citizens of developing countries. Through the course, I got a better appreciation of the power of the Internet as a tool for social change and the different positions on how the global platform should be managed. It was also a great opportunity to experience online education first hand and to network with other emerging African leaders in field. My appreciation goes to Godfred Ahuma, who encouraged me to apply, Stephen Nii Adjei Sowah, one of my Ghanaian coursemates, Marsha Guthrie, my tutor, Stephanie Psaila and Ginger Paque for making the experience worthwhile for me. It was unfortunate though that we could not organise Ghana Internet Governance Forum in 2012. I hope that changes next year

Ghana Decides

If you've been following this blog closely, you'd notice that a lot has been said about BloggingGhana's Ghana Decides project and its drive to engender youth engagement in Ghana's civic affairs. Through various campaigns, workshops and discussions, we captured the diverse needs of youth groups, disability self-help groups, women candidates and other voices often drowned out in our politics. One beautiful thing about Ghana Decides project is that aside the core team, Ghana's online community contributed actively and this crystallised its success. Today, we have a machine that could morph into an accountability and community mobilisation initiative. Whatever, it becomes it's all back to the community! 

BlogCamp Ghana

BloggingGhana finally moved the BlogCamp talk to action, and the result was the biggest and most interesting social media event held in Ghana to date. Edward Tagoe and the BlogCamp team's vim was the main propelling force behind this astounding success, as many young Ghanaians for the first time found out how they could make their voices heard through social media. Watch out for BlogCamp 2013.

BarCamp Ghana

GhanaThink Foundation has been organising barcamps in Ghana since 2008, but in 2012 there was a record. Eight barcamps in seven regions. Unprecedented! I attended six of those- Takoradi, Sunyani, Cape Coast, Ho, Tema and Accra. This makes 2012 my most 'barcamped' year. Also, I had the opportunity of introducing some of my students from the Writers and Debaters Club of Keta Senior High Technical School to barcamps, showcasing how the unconference model can inspire learning and encourage creativity among youngsters. Guess what? They got hooked and are now busy planning their own "Junior Camp" as part of their 60th Anniversary SRC week celebration. More Vim!

ICT, Digital Literacy and Education

There were many opportunities to further efforts in this space as ICTs have become increasingly crucial tools for education, business and development. Due to their growing ubiquity, there's no excuse, really, not to take advantage of what they have to offer. Like I've been saying around: "we must use the tools we have to solve the problems we face." And where we don't have these tools, we have to strive to make them. Here are a few programmes that I was involved in, one way or the other:

• Coders4Africa/PAT Ghana Python in Action Demo
• AITI-KACE Innovation Week Discussion on Open Learning
• ICT4D.at In-Service Training for Teachers in Digital Literacy
• Ghana Educators Network
• Global Lab Ghana
• Ghana Makers
• UNESCO Education For All Global Monitoring Report Ghana Launch

To sum, 2012 has been packed and productive. Let's look forward to the new year, with faith and hope that our plans and dreams will be brought to life. I'm looking forward to a great 2013 and wish the same for you. Happy New Year, Happy New You!

Digital Literacy Training for Keta Senior High Technical School Students

The twenty first century comes with its own challenges and opportunities for the modern learner. With the proliferation of the Internet and associated technologies, learning and collaboration are taking new digital twists. The requirement list for today's student has one new subject: Digital Literacy. While other parts of the world have taken leaps and bounds in this area, Africa is picking up rather slowly. Luckily, there are a few initiatives aimed at helping African students to cross the technological chasm. One of them is the Kuyu Project, originally coming out of Kenya.

The Kuyu Project is an African Digital Literacy initiative aimed at teaching African high school students how to use social media and allied tools for social change. I am collaborating with Ghanaian blogger Mac-Jordan Degadjor and digital consultant/strategist Jo Webber to organise a digital literacy camp for Keta Senior High Technical School students. This is is the first Kuyu Digital Literacy Camp to be held outside Kenya, where the project originated from.

The objective of the Keta camp is to introduce students to a wide array of social media tools to:

• boost civic activism
• boost how well they can collaborate with students from abroad and within Ghana
• research more effectively using online tools
• build future careers using their newly acquired knowledge
• increase knowledge about safety and wisely using social media

Students of Keta Senior High Technical School are bracing themselves to be part of the making of a digital revolution in their school and community, and are keen to incorporate the skills they gain from the camp in their various school activities.

Eldad Nutakor, president of the Writers and Debaters Club (WDC) expects that the programme will make students realise the opportunities that the digital world offers. He is of the view that most students think using the Internet and its associated tools is a waste of time, given the academic structure. He hopes that the massive transformation that will be seen in the lives of participants will make the others to see the light. The leader of a group of socially conscious students, Sarah Wutsikah, is looking forward to use her newly acquired digital skills to lead her group to set up an NGO right after school. She expects the programme to be interesting and hopefully get more students to be interested in ICT-related careers. Finally, ICT Club president, Lesley Commey, hopes the camp will enable them to use videos effectively to cover school events. He is also upbeat about meeting up with camp trainers and expanding his network in the digital space. 

We hope the camp will contribute to raising digital champions in this part of Ghana, and contribute positively to the lives of its participants.