At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with schools around the world closed, parents and teachers began looking for alternative learning platforms. Facing the challenge of teaching remotely, teachers were among the many professionals who had to pivot.
“N * Gen” (also known as “engine”), an African-language science television show for African children, was born to meet this sudden need for science education – coupled with engaging entertainment.
Known on the show are Stephanie Wanjiku Muchuri and Shirleen Ichengi Nanjola & quot;
like Nnena and Jiji, sign each episode with a signature N * Gen call to action: & #xD;
“Let’s ask, we learn, love! And don’t forget to have fun!”
Paul Falzone is the executive director of Peripheral Vision International, or PVI, a media-focused NGO based in New York and Uganda. When the pandemic hit, “We all had to stop and assess. … How can we be useful? ” he said.
PVI initiated talks with teachers on the ground in Kampala, Uganda, and with experts in science, children, media and entertainment houses; “N * Gen” was created organically from these conversations. TV broadcasters were hungry for content “to show youth-focused entertainment media,” Falzone said, and this hunger shaped the program.
“The idea for ‘N * Gen’ first came up in April 2020,” he said, “and by September of the same year, we were on the air.”
Since its inception, “N * Gen” has attracted a great deal of attention and interest. With a combined audience of more than 10 million by the end of Season One, the show aired on the African Channel, Discovery Education (as a special feature in August 2021), Akili Kids TV, and other streaming platforms including Sensical TV and Demand Africa. . Audiences have grown from Uganda to other countries including Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, the United States and South Africa.
With the completion of the second season and the third in the works, this revolutionary TV series, as well as teaching scientific concepts, has raised the awareness of women and girls in science. Producers deliberately select and emphasize women and mothers in scientific roles that are permanently occupied by men.
“We are showing women scientists not as something that can be achieved but as something that has been achieved,” Falzone said.
On this show, representation is important – women are seen teaching and discussing scientific principles, and women also work behind the scenes. Some have approached other women to get involved. Joy Kiano, a biochemist and molecular biologist, became involved with “N * Gen” after speaking to Gosia Lukomska, executive director of PVI. Kiano was first introduced as an education consultant and now serves as PVI’s global ambassador. She describes her decision to join the team as an undead.
“Think of nature as a puzzle; every animal has a place in that puzzle.” Conservation expert Eva Kimani explains the concepts of habitats, food chain and species extinction for children visiting Ol Pejeta Conservation, a wildlife sanctuary in Kenya.
In its first season, “N * Gen” covered topics including digestion, space, fossils, the origins of mountains and the water cycle.
The digestion lesson takes the audience on the same journey our food takes – from the buccal cavity to the generation and expulsion of fecal matter. Teachers clearly emphasize how different food ingredients – carbohydrates, proteins and fats / lipids – are digested. The space lesson introduces children to the solar system and geophysics of the Earth, with a primer on space travel. The lesson on mountains examines the theory of plate tectonics – the formation of ranges, continents and other geographical features.
Each lesson is about a daily occupation and ends with a series of questions on the topic of the day called “brain booster”.
Season Two is very different from Season One, which shot mostly in the studio. Focusing on climate change and its impact on ecosystems, Season Two was filmed in the open air. Children interact with scientists in the field as they look in real time at topics such as marine life, silver-backed gorillas and butterfly communities.
Humor that supports children is used to make educational points. For example, in the program on forests, one of the children on the show says, “Trees give us oxygen, and we give them farts.”
Here is an excerpt from the Season Two butterfly episode:
Entomologist: Without insects, we will not be here.
(She opens a cabinet containing Papilio’s butterflies. The children burst out laughing under the name Papilio jacksoni.)
Entomologist: No, but it’s named after a person called Jackson. Entomologists like myself study and even name them.
(The conversation continues for a while.)
Child: If all the insects die, will we die too?
Entomologist: Actually, yes. Now scientists are very sure.
Child: What can we do to protect insects?
Entomologist: The best way to save the insects is to protect their habitat, just as we protect our homes. To protect insects, we all need it. Needs …?
Although the show was a great success, the “N * Gen” production team faces significant challenges. For Kiano and staff, the filming of the constant threat of COVID-19 locking was not trivial. With the possibility of airport closures, crew members feared that they would not be able to return home if filming had to be extended.
The children see a black and white colobus monkey as they explore & # xD;
native forest in Western Uganda in N * Gen’s “Forests” program;
second season.
In one case, a staff member “did not want to be trapped outside Nairobi County and had to return to his family in South Africa,” Kiano said. With meticulous planning, the team was able to get around this – no staff was stuck.
The makers of “N * Gen” also came up with a bureaucracy and a toxic culture, Kiano said. When they approached scientists in government organizations and asked certain people – mostly women – to attend the show, several senior male officials tried to kidnap the project from their female colleagues. juniors. “We had to go in and find another way,” Kiano said.
Sometimes this alternate approach involved a last minute change in the theme of an episode and a restructuring of its content. For example, Kiano and his team had to move from talking about endangered species to conflicts between humans and wildlife due to difficulties in finding a suitable host, which increased the inflated restrictions of COVID-19.
“Where we were unable to find enough experts on endangered elephants due to impending greening, we focused on female rangers conserving wildlife on the way to Nairobi,” Kiano said.
It was also a challenge to appeal directly to scientists to be present at the show. The Kiano team sent a large number of emails to scientists asking for their participation and they met, for the most part, with silence. They received one or two replies for every 20 emails they sent. And among those small answers was another challenge in finding experts who could make their research delicious for children.
“We found that what worked best was when the scientist was a parent,” Kiano said. Experts who were parents had a great relationship with the kids.
While the ground crew was preparing for production and looking for volunteers, an elephant loomed in the room: money. Falzone and its team sought donors and partners to support this initiative. Also, “they closed some programs, moved money around and were able to cope quickly and be nimble,” he said.
How many Africans have social media?
Today, “N * Gen” has a rapidly growing list of partners and funders, making the program not only an all-African phenomenon but a global phenomenon.
For the communities reached, “N * Gen” is a sign of education. See the article : Texas needs to increase investment in children’s mental health initiatives. It breaks the model of traditional African science education, exposing the younger generation to a fun, vibrant, interactive learning environment with children who share their skin color, taste and background.
What percentage of Africans use social media?
TV education programs can have a drench effect (expressive and dramatic) or a drip effect (slow and cumulative) on the audience. Asked about the future and impact of “N * Gen,” whether its effect will be a drip or a drench, Falzone said, “We are confident that” N * Gen “will have both a drip and a drench effect on audiences all over the world. . ”
How many people in Africa are on Facebook?
There were 109.2 million internet users in Nigeria in January 2022. Nigeria’s internet penetration rate was 51.0 per cent of the total population at the beginning of 2022. Read also : Abortion Disinformation in the United States. Kepios analysis shows that internet users in Nigeria increased by 4.8 million (+4.6 per cent) between 2021 and 2022.
Which country in Africa use social media the most?
The number of African Facebook users now stands at over 17 million, up from 10 million in 2009. On the same subject : Equitable Food Initiative nominates two new board members – Produce Blue Book. More than 15 percent of online people in Africa are currently using the platform, compared to 11 percent in Asia.
- What percentage of people in Africa have access to the Internet? Africa has the lowest number of Internet connections – only 22 per cent of the continent has access.
- In North Africa, 56 per cent of the population used social media, while in South Africa this figure was 45 per cent. In Central Africa, only 8 percent of people used social media, the lowest rate in Africa and the lowest regional share in the world.
Who controls internet in Kenya?
Every month, across sub-Saharan Africa, more than 95 million people access Facebook, and 97% on mobile phones.
Nigerians are the most addictive social media users in Africa – see how other countries rank
Is there Internet access in Kenya?
On average, global internet users spend 2 hours and 26 minutes on social media platforms every day.
Who owns internet in Kenya?
| Since 2020, the number of people who say they use social media has risen 12% less than ever before. | Phase 4 Since 2000, with the entry of the Kenya Communications Commission (CCK) as the nation’s telecommunications regulator, the government has legally recognized the Internet and established a proactive relationship with CCK as a development partner. |
|---|---|
| What is the role of ICT in trade in Kenya? The proliferation of information and communication technology (ICT) services in Kenya provides opportunities to leverage business innovations to increase exports and imports (in part through improvements in trade facilitation), improve service delivery and improve access to information, all contributing to ease. .. | Internet penetration in Africa, by country As of December 2020, Kenya had an internet penetration of about 85.2. This high rate is mainly due to the presence of M-Pesa in Kenya, a mobile wallet provider and the secure payment system offered encourages internet access. |
| Kind of | Public Private Partnership |
| Products | Telecommunication services Internet services |
| Income | SOC 40 billion (2010) |
Does Ghana have internet access?
Owner
Helios Investment Partners (60%) Kenyan Government (40%)
How much is internet per month in Ghana?
Number of employees
How much of Ghana has internet access?
1,400 (2018)
Does Ghana have free internet?
Ghana offers limited access to 3G networks in major cities such as Accra, Cape Coast and Kumasi, but for basic internet connections, Ghana has more than 140 ISPs (Internet Service Providers). Even with the rapidly evolving market, internet access is still quite limited.
Which is the fastest network in Africa?
Does Ghana have a good internet? By bandwidth, Ghana’s internet speeds average upload speeds of around 1.46 Mbit / s over most Internet – enabled devices tested.
On average, the cost of one gigabyte (GB) of mobile internet in Ghana was 0.66 US dollars in 2021. While the cheapest price one could pay to get 1GB of mobile data in the country is 0.17 US dollars, the most expensive amount. It was 3.47 US dollars.
Which network provider is the fastest?
There were 15.70 million internet users in Ghana in January 2021. The number of internet users in Ghana increased by 943 thousand (6.4%) between 2020 and 2021. Internet penetration in Ghana was 50.0% in January 2021.
Does Kenya have the fastest internet?
Where you can find Open Internet in Ghana. As you make your way through town, you will be able to use free wifi coffee in many restaurants. National chains are more likely to offer free wifi than local restaurants. However, you may find some of them do.
