Scottish STEM outreach programme launches partnership with Malawi schools

One of Scotland’s longest running and most successful science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education programmes, Stemovators, has launched a new partnership to bring STEM to life for school pupils in Malawi.

With funding from HCI Skills Gateway, Stemovators is working with the Scotland Malawi Partnership and Malawi Scotland Partnership to deliver the Climate Smarter Project to nearly 300 school pupils across eight schools.

The power of online technology is being used with Scottish schools partnered with schools in Malawi to share learning and understand how renewable energy is different in their respective parts of the world. The team from Stemovators have also delivered online training to teachers in Malawi to show them how to use the free resource kits that have been sent to them.

The Climate Smarter project covers four key topics; renewable energy, water, forestry and smart technologies. The programme culminates in the pupils designing and building models of their future school, incorporating all their research into energy efficiency, smart controls, electricity generation, responsible water and sustainable building material use.

Thomas Wild, Head of Stemovators, highlighted: “We are excited to be sharing our established STEM programme internationally and inspiring the next generation of STEM leaders in Malawi. This partnership is a fantastic example of global citizenship and is designed to enthuse and inspire pupils to think creatively to come up with solutions to the biggest global problems to face them, now, and in their future.”

Ian Mitch, Scotland Malawi Partnership, said “The foresight from Stemovators to work with the Scottish Malawi Partnership and MaSP has allowed real global citizenship to take place. The responses from our Malawian colleagues have shown that their learners might not have had this opportunity otherwise. This project provides a great opportunity for Scottish learners to work directly with learners in Malawi – bringing real life into their studies.”

Kenneth Leitch, Principal Investigator, HCI Skills Gateway, added: “We are delighted to support the Climate Smarter programme which provides an early introduction to learners of the critical role which the Built Environment plays on all our futures. We are confident that due to this programme, young learners will be equipped with the key skills and awareness needed to make the changes necessary.”