Fundi Bots
Model & Strategy
The Problem
Practical and problem-based learning and experimentation are critical to teaching and learning science concepts. Studies show that practical teaching in science leads to more positive attitudes towards science, greater achievements in the field, improved communication and problem solving, and more real-life application of science lessons. However, science education in Uganda and many African countries focuses on rote teaching methods geared towards completing the curriculum and getting students to pass examinations. Schools are characterized by under-resourced facilities, outdated instructional methods, and poorly trained or unqualified teachers.
Student performance on science exams in Uganda has continued to decline, with over 50% of students failing to meet the aggregate pass mark for sciences in 2020. This is attributed to ineffective pedagogy, gender disparities in science learning (with girls being left out), lack of critical thinking and negative attitudes towards sciences. Poor learning outcomes cascade into diminished career prospects and a youth and leadership demographic that is increasingly unable to make informed decisions, work effectively, innovate, or sustain economic growth.
The Solution
Fundi Bots improves learning outcomes and provides skills training for science students in Uganda and beyond by developing technology-driven, student-focused, and practical learning resources. The long-term goal is to develop productive and enterprising African youth who use science to change the world. Fundi Bots has a particular focus on reaching underprivileged regions and girls.
Fundi Bots uses two learning models: 1) Enhanced Science Curriculum, a school-based learning model embedded directly into the national curriculum that includes a broad range of practical tools, learning guides and in-depth teacher training and coaching; 2) Robotics/STEM Training, an extracurricular model providing hands-on training for students and youth to improve science understanding and build technical skills. Fundi Bots implements their work through three program areas: 1) Fundi @School, providing science learning resources within the school environment; 2) Fundi @Home, enabling students to learn science at home; 3) Fundi @Work, offering STEM-focused workforce training and job placement for out-of-school youth and post-secondary students. Additionally, the Fundi Girls program brings more girls and women into STEM fields through equitable technical training and support.
Over the next five years, Fundi Bots will continue developing, evaluating, and scaling their learning models. They will focus on scaling the adoption of the Enhanced Science Curriculum, which will be rolled out to schools across Uganda and East Africa. Fundi Bots also plans to leverage digital technology to deliver science learning, both online and broadcast.
Solomon King Benge founded Fundi Bots as the fulfillment of a childhood dream and a desire to see better education systems in Uganda. After personally experiencing the frustrations and struggles of exam-oriented science education in secondary school in the 90s, Solomon’s dream was to create a space in which learning for children could be fun, practical and purposeful.
In 2011, Solomon started Fundi Bots as a hobby project and grew it to a team of 115 over the next decade. In 2012, with a small grant from Google RISE, Fundi Bots held its first Robotics Camp at Nabisunsa Girls’ Secondary School. In 2014, Solomon was selected as both an Ashoka Fellow and Echoing Green Fellow. These fellowships were the catalyst Fundi Bots needed to transition from a hobby project to a full-time non-profit organization. He has also been selected as an African Visionary Fellow by the Segal Family Foundation and a 2020 Skoll World Forum Fellow.
Impact
Since 2014, Fundi Bots has worked with more than 34,800 students, primarily in Uganda, with outreach training in Rwanda and Tanzania.
In 2022 alone, Fundi Bots was able to reach 10,500 students across all its programs, a significant jump from the 11,500 students it reached in the last ten years combined.
Fundi Bots is planning for increased scale, deeper testing and tighter curriculum integration as more classes and schools continue using their learning models, with a goal to reach one million students across Africa by 2030.
In 2022, Fundi Bots launched the Enhanced Science Curriculum (ESC) pilot with 34 schools, 65 teachers and over 6,000 students. The primary goal of the ESC is to integrate advanced, practical learning models directly into the official National Curriculum.
The results Fundi Bots is seeing out of the evaluations are very promising, with some schools seeing a 93% improvement in performance. The ESC program could provide significant impact at scale.
