REB & DSSD - VIRTUAL LAB design competition 2019

The Rwanda Education Board (REB) in partnership with the Digital Solutions for Sustainable Development (DSSD) invite all Rwandan Innovators to participate in the VIRTUAL LAB design competition. The design challenge for VIRTUAL LAB Digital Solution is a national competition, which consists of developing a software application to conduct major experiments of Biology, Chemistry and Physics in a virtual laboratory. We are looking for multidisciplinary teams composed by IT and educational specialists who understand the importance of experimentation in science-based education. The solution should take focus at making virtual science labs accessible, usable and affordable for educational school in Rwanda.

Introduction and Background:

The Government of Rwanda initiated the gradual roll-out of competence-based curriculum (CBC), which provides a more practical, skills-based approach to learning and orients schooling toward the requirements of the workplace. The main barrier to implement the new curriculum is related to the low access to science laboratory. This shortage of Lab facility has weakened the school’s ability to deliver the competency-based curriculum. To address this problem, the Government of Rwanda, through Rwanda Education Boards (REB) envision to create virtual labs as a solution to provide students with the chance of practicing scientific skills.

Problem Statement

Experience in the laboratory and exercising scientific skills are key aspects of the competence-based curriculum. Laboratory practices are important to give students the confidence to deal with actual challenges but also can enable students to build up motivation and enthusiasm for science subjects. However, to provide students with the chance of practicing scientific skills requires enormous investment in laboratory facilities, high maintained cost and other consumable resources which are not available at schools. To address these limitations, Virtual labs have been suggested as a way to alleviate the laboratory capacity problem by allowing students to practice critical skills in a virtual environment when real physical equipment’s unavailable. The new curriculum (CBC) emphasizes the development of transferable skills — such as critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity — and advocates the use of ICT as a tool for learning.

REB & DSSD – VIRTUAL LAB design competition 2019

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REB & DSSD – VIRTUAL LAB design competition 2019

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