Fouche Scholtz, an IT and Robotics teacher at Curro Hermanus is our feature educator for this month. With an eager interest in drones and technology, he is one of our Pilot Champions in the rollout of our Block-based Coding: Orlando Pilots course, which leads to a drone mission that uses 3D coordinates to inspect the Sowetan Cooling Towers.
We sat down with Fouche and asked him a few questions regarding his experience with teaching the Inspire Africa Drone Coding curriculum to his Grade 7 students.
Q1: Name some of the changes implemented or benefits of using Inspire Africa’s products or curriculum, within your classroom.
A: The curriculum is very well worked out with lessons planned to perfection. It is also very easy to understand as well as to implement.
Q2: Please provide us with some feedback on your experience in using our Inspire Campus (Inspire Africa’s Learner Management System) to access the curriculum.
A: The Inspire Campus really helps me understand the content that I am about to teach to my learners. It shows me examples, gives me ideas on how to structure my lessons and provides me with interesting facts and knowledge to help me make lessons fun and interesting.
Q3: How would you best describe the way you use our content in your class? For example, projecting the lesson, reviewing the lesson and then teaching it etc.
A: The way I implement it is by reviewing the content the day before so that I can structure my lessons. Important information is then discussed with the class and any videos relating to the understanding of the topic are shown. After that, we have a class discussion. The last 5 to 10 minutes are spent on the drone simulator.
Q4: What was your greatest fear before using the curriculum and has that changed since being able to access the Inspire Campus (Inspire Africa’s Learner Management System)?
A: That I would not be able to understand or implement the knowledge needed for successful implementation of the subject. The Inspire Campus helped a lot by providing me with the necessary information required for each lesson! The content on the campus as well as all the videos, lesson plans, worksheets, and resources made it easy to integrate and implement.
Q5: What surprised you about our curriculum and has it made teaching the content easier?
A: That it is so easy and user-friendly. As an educator, I can really relate to the content and how it is explained.
Q6: Were there any groups or learners’ end products or results which surprised you? Please share one or more examples.
A: Well, what I can share is the fact that all this is relatively new. Yet due to the user-friendliness and child-friendliness of the curriculum, the learners have already picked up on many of the concepts and even make droning look easy.
Q7: Are there any words of inspiration or advice you could provide to educators who will be using Inspire Africa’s curriculum and products?
A: It looks daunting and difficult until you try it. It will change your life! It connects to the 21st century digital world of our learners, they relate to and enjoy lessons. The shared experiences and successes make learning as well as teaching fun!