The Future of Learning in Nigeria: Learning Design & STEM
The premise of each industrial revolution exists only because learning is constantly reimagined.
The world is currently witnessing the 4th industrial revolution. With such depth, the convergence of humans and technology is quickly barreling into the 5th Industrial Revolution. The premise of each revolution — to improve human life — only exists because learning is constantly reimagined and reshaped at an unprecedented rate; STEM-based learning as a matter of fact.
As of 2016, countries like China, India, the United States, Russia, Iran, Indonesia and Japan experienced notable progress from efforts to revolutionise tertiary education, on the foresight that demand for sophisticated skills will be extremely different in a world dependent on technology. STEM graduates were seen as a vital cog in the wheel of world economics.
Education in Nigeria contributes to this conversation, seen in STEM-related subjects and activities across schools — and through technology-based organisations introducing STEM teaching and learning, so that through school, play or home, students are groomed for what is happening in the world today.
Key themes form the basis of sustainable results in STEM-based learning: learning strategies beyond the classroom, frameworks planning and development, the country's equity profile, and teachers' access to programs and resources. The outcomes present skills that are transversal, multidimensional, and associated with higher-order behaviours that help people cope with complex problems and unpredictable situations.
Codex is one of the indigenous organisations taking the lead in ensuring that frameworks supporting STEM in Nigerian schools thoughtfully account for structure, timing, pedagogical strategies, learning sequence, assessment, and the nature of technologies adopted — aligning the instructional design to attitudes necessary for learners to be 'digitally aware, competent and transformative'.
Greater relevance and promise are shown when equitable education is imagined in the foundational stages of planning, design and development of STEM education — affording Nigeria a future of significance in this digital era, and giving learners competitive, marketable STEM skills.