Revolutionizing STEM Education in the Philippines

Revolutionizing STEM Education in the Philippines

By Ricardo Ruiz Comment Closed
Imagine a welcoming and imaginative space, with the floor resembling grass and trees serving as tables. It's a place where kids can collaborate to design, create and think. The students use circuits, 3-D printers, and crafts to create creative projects. Based in the Philippines, that is precisely what SparkleLab presents. Founded by Rosanna Lopez, SparkleLab began as a small clubhouse for kids. Having evolved into after-school and summer camps over the years, one of its flagship programs, Game Makers, teaches game design, with kids creating their games using Python. The whole learning experience is imbued with fun, creativity, and storytelling. Before classes begin, a letter is sent to the kids warning them of an evil pirate bunny trying to outlaw fun. The kids must act like a rebel army against the evil bunny to restore fun. Other programs include Stitches and Circuits, which focuses on getting girls to code, and Toy Mill, which teaches design thinking and critical making.  Set within the...
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Learning with Head, Heart and Hand – A Plea for Maker Education

Learning with Head, Heart and Hand – A Plea for Maker Education

By Mugethi Gitau Comment Closed
Global Innovation Gathering is proud to have Junge Tüfler*innen among our members. During workshops, they observe how children are fascinated by plants that make music, plasticine that glows because it can conduct electricity, or a talking poster. When they understand how these things are made, they quickly arrive at the point: "Maybe I can do that, too. I'll try that myself!" Doing things yourself to develop and experience your effectiveness is an essential part of maker education and, accordingly, at the heart of all learning formats. Through project- and problem-based learning, maker education strengthens key future competencies such as communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking. A diagram shows the overlap of the 4K model (Communication Collaboration, Creativity, Critical Thinking) with Digital Competencies (Reception, Reflection, Production). Maker spaces offer a near-limitless number of possibilities for exploration: also, digital skills can be taught here. Fascinating: the area for production, i.e. being able to design digital content and systems yourself. Illustration: Carlotta Klee. "Maker Spaces in der Schule: So...
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Gig @ re:publica’22 is here!

Gig @ re:publica’22 is here!

By Mugethi Gitau Comment Closed
GIG @ re:publica ‘22 is finally happening in-person (after 2 years of not being able to) and we couldn't be more excited! This year’s festival with the “Any way the wind blows” happens on 8-10 June, at Arena Berlin & Festsaal Kreuzberg Yay for the Makerspace! The Makerspace is happening at re:publica 2022 and as usual is bringing together some of the most brilliant makers and innovators from around the world. Curated by the GIG and with support from our membership in the Distributed Design Platform, we host full-on three days of Workshops, Meetups and Exhibitions, all happening in the Makerspace at the heart of re:publica. Whether developing robots, learning how to replace plastic bags with biodegradable materials, making your own eco-prints on DIY bio leather, or recording crawling insects by adapting programming code, our workshops program will ensure you leave with some real Hands-on knowledge. Learn more about the Workshops program here.At the comfort of the HomeBase, our Meetups will bring speakers...
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Labmobile: on the road in Northern Uganda

Labmobile: on the road in Northern Uganda

By Ricardo Ruiz Comment Closed
Young people between the ages of 18 and 30 in Rhino Camp Refugee Settlement and surrounding communities in northern Uganda face many problems, two of which GIG and Platform Africa proposed a project that seeks to address: Youth unemployment and lack of media literacy. With a youth unemployment rate of almost 70% and a high percentage of people who could not complete their school education but were traumatized by war and flight as schoolchildren, misinformation often leads to outbreaks of violence. Tensions have increased over the past year, particularly following the Ugandan government's restrictive measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic and the World Food Program's (WFP) simultaneous 30% cut in food rations for refugees. Platform Africa foundation was in 2017 in Uganda by South Sudanese refugees. It is a non-profit organization that supports young people of all nationalities, ethnicities, genders, and sexual orientations through capacity-building programs (SDG 4). It focuses on media skills development, entrepreneurship, social-technological innovation, and establishing an open, peaceful...
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Announcing DOTS 2021!

Announcing DOTS 2021!

By Mugethi GitauNo Comments
It is finally that time of the year! Although we could not physically gather anywhere after 2019, we did gather virtually in many events, and also during the weekly GIG team calls. We know the reality of meeting online is not exactly what we want – but we’re also preparing to meet again physically in 2022 ! Still, this year’s DOTS – our annual gathering – will need to take place virtually .  DOTS will be more focused this year on our network and organisation. With this, we invite you to save the date for the DOTS week (November 26-30) and to participate and arrange sessions. Leading up to this, we shall offer several info sessions about board members roles, GIG governance and the general assembly.   The agenda for DOTS: 26th | 13.00 - 15.30 CET: General Assembly Meeting The  General Assembly is the central decision-making organ of GIG e.V. the NGO which forms the legal body of the GIG Network....
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GIG @ Communities & Technologies

GIG @ Communities & Technologies

By Victoria WenzelmannNo Comments
The biennial Communities and Technologies (C&T) conference stimulates scholarly debate and is a prime venue to disseminate research on the complex connections between communities and information and communication technologies. #comtech2019 aimed to also connect academia and practitioners - an endeavor that GIG as a network and many members obviously relate and can contribute much to! Already in 2017, some GIGers participated in C&T in Troyes, as Oliver Stickel from Fablab Siegen had initiated a workshop around 3D printing and digital fabrication for education and the common good. This year’s C&T took place in Vienna from June 3rd till June 7th, and many GIG members participated in various roles. Regina Sipos and me organized the workshop Critical Making For and With Communities with the goal to facilitate and further exchange between researchers, practitioners and activists in the fields of critical making, social and digital innovation, participatory design, and community management. It was a very fruitful exchange between people working in...
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GIG at ifa Design Exhibition “Pure Gold – Upcycled! Upgraded!”

GIG at ifa Design Exhibition “Pure Gold – Upcycled! Upgraded!”

By Victoria WenzelmannNo Comments
Samer Shawar and Marios Mouratidis did a Junk Drawbots Workshop and Victoria Wenzelmann gave an introductory talk on GIG at the Design Exhibition Pure Gold – Upcycled! Upgraded! The exhibition was opened in Hamburg in November 2017 and will travel the world for the next ten years. Pure Gold is a project by ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) that explores the subject of rubbish and presents approaches to using existing trash to create valuable products. It consists of two complementary parts: the physical and material exhibition and the virtual platform as a space for dialogue, discussion and the storage of knowledge.    Working with seven curators from Europe, Latin America, North Africa and the Near East, East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, ifa has brought together 76 exhibits and a total of 53 designers for the exhibition, where they present added value and appreciation within many diverse contexts. The workshops that take place at the international touring exhibition venues with local designer and...
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