Kenyan teachers were oriented ahead of the Kenyan chapter of the RCMRD Space Challenge 2019. The Challenge leverages on a partnership between RCMRD and the GLOBE program in Kenya, an initiative that provides students with an opportunity to participate in data collection and learn basic scientific processes.
60 teachers from both Primary and Secondary schools attended a three day orientation at our premises on implementing the Space Challenge this year. The schools are: Juja Prep & Senior Schools, Ortum Boys School, St. Scholastica Catholic, SFS Intergrated Primary, Holy-Cross Sec.Kacheliba, Kitololoni Primary, Manyati Primary, Maranda High School, Bushiangala Sec, Maseno School, Mpesa Foundation Academy, ACK Manyati Primary, Ng'iya Mixed Primary, Nyandarua High School, Teremi High School, Keringet Sec. School, Homa Bay Boys, Kamketo Girls Sec, Ortum Boys School, Ortum Girls School, St. Elizabeth Girls, Magomano Girls, Mukumu Girls, St. Georges Primary, Moi Forces Academy, Sirua Aulo H. School, Shree Swaminaraya Academy, Holy Cross Mix, St. Johns Sirende, Kamketo Sec., S. S. Academy, Bushiangala Sec., St. Elizabeth Morpus,Ortum Boys School, Queen Esther School, Visa Oshwal Primary, Mwiki Goodhope School, Mpesa Foundation Academy and St. Scholastica Catholic. Consequently, several primary and secondary school teachers attended a three day orientation on implementing the RCMRD Space Challenge. The teachers drawn from 60 schools including Mangu High School; Moi Forces Academy in Nairobi, Homabay High School; Thome Boys Secondary School and St. Scholastica Catholic School participated in the training. The space challenge is part of RCMRD’s strategy on engaging the youth within its 20 member States. RCMRD in partnership with GLOBE program through the Kenya Space Agency launched the final edition of a three year program dubbed RCMD space challenge under the theme of land degradation and climate change.
This entails organisation of inception workshops to equip the science and geography teachers from various schools with necessary skills in training their students on weather trends and various weather parameters associations. In the first year (2017), students were required to compute trends in humidity, temperature and rainfall in various zones (the data to be provided by GLOBE and Trans-African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory (TAHMO) and determine weather change drivers (similarities and difference) in various zones. They were also required to mention the link between the weather parameters.
This year, students were required to determine relationships between weather parameters(temperature, precipitation, humidity), NDVI (MODIS) and Malaria occurrence in Homa Bay County. This focuses on food security and health pillars by the Kenyan government. There were limitations in terms of spatial coverage/data capture boundaries and resolutions of the data provided but they could plot the data and have fun. The weather data was sourced from the Automatic Weather stations - same as the one installed at RCMRD close to MODIS receiver, NDVI from MODIS and Malaria Data from Ministry of Health in Kenya).
