STEM Education in Botswana: Girls Getting Geeky

This round of Design Squad Global participants found it thrilling. Their     challenge was to design and build a device that can be used to drop a container from a height of at least 1 metre and safely land upright.

During this session, the participants focused on strengthening their understanding of the design process by focusing on the brainstorming and design steps. The participants discovered ways to design a shock absorbing system that protects a container as it drops to the floor. They decided to design a parachute like device by reusing materials from offices and the kitchen such as papers cups and shopping bags.

As they were building their design, one participant mentioned, “To make the device fall slowly, we have to make the hole in the plastic (canopy) that’s holding the container so that when it falls the air gets trapped inside and slows its fall."

The invention not only pushed the youth to be innovative but they investigated and learned how gravity works. The youth said that they will take the invention and share it with their friends and teachers at school. One girl mentioned, “We learned about gravity in our science class at school and it was difficult to understand because there was no practical to it and now from this experience it is clear!”

Stepping Stones International is extending STEM Geeky Girls and partnering with Technopolis in Belgium through November 2017. The youth from Belgium will interact, email, share ideas with the youth in Botswana on new creations. This will be an opportunity for both a cultural and technological exchange.