UC Blue Ash professor teaching coding to fourth graders in Botswana

Dr. Unity Dow recently took up leadership at a school in Mochudi, Botswana and in January of 2020 the school reopened as The Dow Academy. Dr. Dow was a visiting law professor at University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College in 2009 and has maintained ties with faculty since her departure. She tapped into those connections to form a relationship between her school and UC International. A delegation from UC International and various colleges at UC Blue Ash traveled last year to Botswana to develop plans for a variety of collaborations. Dr. Dow then visited UC in February to follow up on the planning and work out details. Unfortunately, shortly after that the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted those plans. In an effort to find a way to maintain the connection, officials at the UC International office began to focus on projects that could be carried out entirely online. They settled on an extracurricular technology class.

As laid out in a news release from UC Blue Ash, Dr. Ana Vamadeva, Director of international strategic partnerships for Sub-Saharan Africa at UC International contacted Dr. Mohamed Elwakil, assistant professor in the Math, Physics & Computer Science Department to discuss teaching a programming class for The Dow Academy. Dr. Elwaki eagerly agreed, saying, "I liked the idea, because this is something that I always wanted to do as part of community service, teaching programming to small kids. It's worth my service. Service to the community and also service to the field or the discipline. And a service to the university." With the help of Doru Aldea of The Dow Academy, Dr. Elwakil selected the fourth grade class. They knew that there would be a learning curve to overcome, as many of the students had no experience with computers, but with some experimentation and some on-the-spot adjustments during the first few sessions, the students were off and running.

The class used a platform developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology called Scratch. It is a free platform with low technical requirements, making it accessible with the technology available to the students in Botswana. Scratch uses a drag-and-drop system that allows users to copy coding details and let the children begin creating games right away. As Dr. Elwakil explains, "It uses something called block programming. So instead of writing code, you drag and drop code." This visual approach familiarizes the students with basic programming components while keeping their attention. In one assignment, students worked on a video game where a lion stalks a zebra. The children were asked to add a second predator to the program and Dr. Elwakil was impressed with the creativity used by the students as they modified the game.

In December, the class took part in an annual programming event called the Hour of Code. The global event aims to simplify coding and make it more approachable to non-experts. During the event, children at The Dow Academy worked on a different game in which Santa falls out of his sleigh and has to jump back on it.

The class of fourth graders has now graduated to fifth grade, but that is not the end of this collaboration. Plans are underway to teach the course again to the next crop of fourth graders, set to begin school in a few months. And the new fifth graders will be able to partake in a program in development that will build upon what they have already learned. Officials at The Dow Academy are adding other programs at other grade levels that emphasize technology, including a video production class for sixth graders and a laptop refurbishment course for seventh graders.

Cheshe Dow, daughter of Dr. Unity Dow and CEO of The Dow Academy is pleased with the collaboration so far and looks forward to continued cooperation, "As difficult as this year has been, the people who have decided to do something, who are committed to the vision of education, they continue to do it. The model may have changed significantly. But if that commitment and that passion and that activity is there, people will always find a way." She also expressed her gratitude to Dr. Elwakil, saying, "The first program is always, always the hardest…Honestly, it has opened up so many possibilities in people's heads, and that's really the big win for us in 2020." UC International's Dr. Vamaveda echoed the appreciation for Dr. Elwakil, "We are thrilled that Mohamed has volunteered to kickstart the coding initiative and very much appreciate his time and service. We are hoping to build on this initiative and continue to grow and expand our relationship with The Dow Academy."