Blog – Page 4 – Oysters and Pearls

Gulu Annual Tech Camp
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Gulu Annual Tech Camp

Please read the article by Lindsay Craig about the class he taught in Gulu at the annual Oysters & Pearls Technology Camp.

I’m starting a robotics toy company called QuestBotics (which is another story), but in my copious free time every year I go to Uganda, Africa to teach a Technology camp with Oysters & Pearls – Uganda. It’s a two-week event and kids in northern Uganda flock to a school called Gulu High where they get to play with sensors, tiny robot brains (microchips), Legos, video games, motors and virtual reality.

With over 120 students and 50 staff members at the camp in Uganda, we have our hands full just getting the power turned on, but that didn’t stop us – this year, we found the time to add four new subjects for the students–shortwave radio, audio, art and solar energy.

Pushing the boundaries in Uganda Tech Education
We’re always pushing the boundaries of what we can teach at the Gulu Annual Tech Camp. The second year of its existence we were teaching printed circuit board design as a part of the prototyping course. Students had clamored in the past for the opportunity to work with Bluetooth and other wireless technology. So, we bought a bunch of low-cost short-wave

Sandra Washburn2017-06-13T00:10:53+03:00

2016 National Technovation Challenge in Uganda

Please read the article regarding the “2016 National Technovation Challenge in Uganda” in which Oysters & Pearls sponsored the participation of the Gulu High School team.

Click to read an article about the Gulu Team from New Vision – “Girls Create App for Bodabodas” by Jeff Andrew Lule

New Vision – “Uganda will be technology hub for Africa by 2030” by John Agaba, 5th August 2016

The Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Elioda Tumwesigye said Uganda will be a hub for science and technology in whole of Africa by 2030 during a technovation challenge at the Makerere University School of Public Health-powered ResilientAfrica Network.

It was Tumwesigye’s first day out in the field after he was appointed to the office as inaugural minister by President Yoweri Museveni late June.

During the technovation challenge that attracted teams from over 15 girl secondary schools from across Uganda, the new minister reiterated the need for science and innovations, pledging support to the network. – READ MORE

Coverage also included the Resilient Africa Network website: “The 2016 Uganda Technovation Challenge”

This year’s

Sandra Washburn2022-02-28T23:22:44+03:00

Uganda – Holiday Robotics Training Sept 2016
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Uganda – Holiday Robotics Training Sept 2016

Above are the photos from the Holiday Robotics Training held in September 2016. Below is Ntananga Phyllis blog post (from Tech Women Uganda) describing the training.

In early September 2016, I got another opportunity to mentor a group of young people from Gulu in Mobile application development during the Holiday Robotics Training organized by Oysters & Pearls – Uganda at their Gulu town premises. Running for two weeks, this training covered areas like Video Game Design, Robotics and Electronics, Minecraft and Mobile Applications Development. Unlike the January camp, this training was not residential and participants attended from Monday to Saturday between 8AM to 5PM.

A day before the official start of the training, mentors made preparations and arranged the different equipment to be used. It had been 7 months since I was last in Gulu and I couldn’t help but notice in awe the progress Oysters and Pearls had made in regards to their Maker Space – all thanks to Sandra Washburn for her love, dedication and motivation in equipping tech-savvy young people with technological skills to aid them become the change makers this nation needs.

The Maker Space is perfectly set up with all the requirements that anyone with a dream of changing the world

Phyllis Ntananga2022-02-28T23:22:44+03:00

Teaching STEM in Uganda, an indelible memory

August 14, 2013

I recently returned from an enlightening excursion to Uganda. I spent 3 wonderfully filled weeks in Gulu, a city 6 hours north of the capital, Kampala. My purpose for the trip was to teach STEM and Leadership to girls enrolled at Gulu High school, the second oldest school in the entire country. What made my trip even more significant was the connection this institution shares with ours: Both are celebrating a centennial of impacting lives through service. What an honor to have participated in dual centennial celebrations. I tell you, turning 100 never looked so good!

As an educator, I am passionate about the work I do to impart knowledge on the lives of future generations. More than just “teach”, I aim to inspire them to be bold, take charge, make decisions, and more importantly, impact society to advance us all. I carried that same spirit with me to Uganda, and connected instantly with my students. My classes consisted of 25 energetic, and eager-to-learn young women who were on the verge of a new journey. I say ‘new’ in the sense that they are aware of a global need for change, but struggled to find a way to bring the importance and significance of their role

Jennifer Stimpson2022-02-28T23:22:44+03:00

Open Hardware, Software & Minds

By Linday Craig, Consultant, Educator, Technologist and Artist: questbotics.com

The people who attended the 2016 Annual Gulu Technology Camp found a doorway to future that they had never seen before — who knows where it will lead them?

Imagine a camp for 10 to 18 year-olds that combines robotics, microcomputers, pcDuino, video game design with Unity, self-defense training with an international kickboxer, Samsung’s virtual reality gear, Android app design, musical performances, quadcopters, and Legos. Now imagine this camp took place in previously civil-war-torn northern Uganda.

Just to make things interesting, throw in a small documentary crew and a large group of technically savvy instructors who wandered the grounds amongst the energetic students. Finally, add to all of this the fact that almost half of the camp’s 100+ students were blind. Even if you have an extremely active imagination and you can wrap your head around these foundational facts, I can guarantee that you can’t imagine the amount of sheer joy, inquisitiveness, and boisterous energy that inhabited Gulu High School in the form of children during the 2016 Oysters & Pearl’s Annual Technology Camp.
READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

Lindsay Craig2016-05-12T00:43:13+03:00

Robotics Camp by Oysters & Pearls – Uganda

(this is a reprint from Ntananga Phyllis’s article from her blog: Tech Women Uganda.)

On a very hot Thursday in the first week of January 2016, I hopped on a bus headed for Gulu. I was super excited. It was my first time to go to the North. Naturally, I had all the imaginations anyone could have about an entirely new place. The journey was long but to my surprise I was awake the whole time, thanks to the fear of missing out on the adventure. I saw different things like rare fruits that we barely have in the Central or Western region of the country and the sight of the Karuma Bridge, one of the many beautiful things of nature with which God blessed Uganda. Before sunset, we were in Gulu town for the Robotics Camp.

That evening, the trainers that had arrived for the camp all gathered to be taken through the materials and resources that were going to be used for the next two weeks in the camp. As a software developer without much knowledge in hardware/embedded systems, most of the terms and materials were so new to me – stuff like

Phyllis Ntananga2022-02-28T23:22:44+03:00

2016 Robotics and Animation Training

The curriculum for 2016 includes pcDuino, Raspberry Pi, Android Apps, and Animation using several open source software programs. We’ll be using laptops, Samsung Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 4 smartphones as well.

The program is open to beginners and advanced users. Several vendors have supported the program through donations and discounts. The teachers include Professor Carl Twarog and one of his students from East Carolina University, Linz Craig and 18 experienced programmers and teachers from within Uganda.

The program runs from Sunday Jan 10 until Saturday Jan 23.

Read the post from Lindsay Craig. You will read about half-way down in this article about his involvement with Oysters and Pearls! Thank, Linz!

Sandra Washburn2022-02-28T23:22:44+03:00

As Uganda’s End of Year Exams Approach – 2015

As the Ugandan school year comes to a close, our High Schoolers are on leave for another week before returning for Third Term. For Secondary Four (S4) and Secondary Six (S6) students this will bring the moment of truth starting in October and November, respectively. A week or more of National Exams, in up to nine subjects for the S4 and three or more for the S6 students.

Performance on these standardized tests will define eligibility for continuing education, which can have a determining impact on one’s future. Leading up to this, students have been revising (reviewing) their notes which they made in the prior weeks, months and years. Most students don’t have their own copy of any textbooks and, in fact, sometimes teachers don’t even use books. Instead, a carefully cultivated set of notes is one of the keys to success.

The better schools will have prepared their students to think critically about questions while the majority have simply emphasized memorization of the 3-18 (depending on the question) bullet points which form a top-scoring answer. Those who learned critical thinking skills in the Ordinary Level (O-Level is comprised of S1-S4) will start their Advanced Level (A-Level is S5-S6) at an

Sandra Washburn2022-02-28T23:22:44+03:00

Holiday Training – January 2015

I arrived in Gulu on a Saturday afternoon, not sure what to expect from the next two weeks. As a volunteer with the Oysters & Pearls holiday training program, I knew about the class materials and basic program setup. As I quickly learned however, there was much more to the program than just the teaching.

Joining Sandra and the instructors, I spent the weekend assisting with logistics — the little details that I had never considered, but had to be completed. Where were all the plates for the dining hall? Could we borrow mattresses for students that didn’t bring their own? Why was the electricity off in the classrooms? These and a hundred other small-but-crucial tasks had to be settled, even as students started arriving on Sunday afternoon.

Classes began immediately on Monday, and continued through the week. Sighted students were sorted into one of three classes — Engineering for the Future, Introduction to Robotics, or Advanced Robotics. As the classes delved into new materials and lessons, I watched the projects grow increasingly complex. Since I constantly moved from room to room, I saw the classes develop in snapshots. What started on day one as a collection of wires and boards became a functioning light display, then a

Ell Olson2022-02-28T23:22:44+03:00

Engineering Camp at Gulu

It was great to be back in Gulu for my third time at the Oysters & Pearls holiday training. This was the first year we had an engineering camp designed just for girls! Eighteen girls attended the training, sixteen from secondary school and two from primary school level. In the beginning everyone was very quiet but they warmed up quickly by the end of the first day.

The first week the girls designed and created water filters. It was exciting and inspiring to watch their experimenting. Their engineering challenge was to:

Design a water cleaning process to provide clean drinking water to the girls’ dormitory.

The sample water we provided them was particularly unpleasant. We used tea leaves, mud, dirt, flowers and other various plant life, and some insects to create a nasty brew of “dirty water” that they had to clean. Their process had to include filtration and purification, and the success of their designs was evaluated based on budget, cleaning time, and quality of the water after cleaning. At the end of the week, a panel of nine teachers examined samples of the water after each team of students had cleaned it. The panel (including me) smelled the water, observed its appearance, shook it to see

Erin Fitzgerald2015-02-06T01:45:53+03:00