Rose Upfold empowering young minds through robotics and tinkering

By Karabelo Phakoe

Most children growing up in Johannesburg's inner city frequently lack access to cutting-edge educational resources like robotics and tinkering. Rose Upfold, an educator and community champion, is trying to alter that by establishing areas outside of the classroom where the young can experiment with creativity, technology, and problem-solving. 

Upfold, a member of Jozi My Jozi's education pillar, has worked on community development projects aimed at enhancing youth educational prospects for almost 30 years. Her most recent project is to create robotics and tinkering hubs where children can build and learn in ways that inspire creativity and imagination.

"Schooling can often be very prescribed. There is relatively little room for creativity in the disciplines that children are taught, such as maths and history. Children may think creatively and expand their horizons through innovative learning,” said Upfold. 

Her work focuses on after-school programmes that are intended to find gifted students and provide them with opportunities to pursue further education. The programme exposes the children to engineering, robotics, and coding ideas - while guiding and mentoring them to choose subjects that play to their strengths.

Currently, the programme runs out of hubs at the Maharishi Invincibility Institute, where students have access to two specialised learning areas, a tinkering room and a robotics room.

Lego-based instructional tools that push students to construct, explore and find innovative solutions to issues are used in both areas to promote hands-on learning. Upfold collaborated closely with LEGO Education and introduced students to engineering and coding topics through robotics and tinkering platforms. Students are encouraged to construct and test their own ideas while honing their critical thinking and collaboration abilities through controlled challenges.

In addition to teaching technical skills, the curriculum seeks to foster children’s self-expression and confidence. According to Upfold, students who previously had difficulty in normal academic settings have also shown a visible improvement because of the curriculum.

“Many children are taken out of the normal learning mode by this. They can express themselves in nonverbal ways," said Upfold.

Finding high-potential children and assisting them in obtaining scholarships at Maharishi Invincibility Institute, a school renowned for giving gifted students from underprivileged families educational opportunities, is one of the project's long-term objectives.

Upfold has a strong personal dedication to education. She grew up at an orphanage before being adopted by a family that gave her access to the best education.

She remarked: "I was among the fortunate ones. However, a lot of kids are raised in secluded bubbles without access to chances. I wanted my own kids to comprehend the world around them and contribute to finding solutions”.

With plans to open another hub at MES Johannesburg, the initiative is currently growing.

The new hub will enable the project to reach more students from nearby schools and offer more hours of experiential learning; the new hub will launch a morning programme.

According to Upfold, the tinkering programme is crucial for helping neurodiverse kids who frequently have trouble communicating in standard classroom settings. Learners can use movable pieces and visual signals to express themselves through specifically developed tinkering components.

“A learner can express fundamental requirements, such as wanting to use the restroom, by moving an emoji indicator,” said Upfold.

According to Upfold, the transparent tinkering board serves as a tool for communication as well as a source of emotional stability, enabling students to express themselves without depending just on spoken communication.

In collaboration with LEGO, the project was in the development phase for eighteen months, starting at Maharishi Invincibility Institute in the final quarter of last year. To further increase the programme's impact on the community, parents of students at the institute were hired as part of the project.

With greater corporate sponsorship and assistance, Upfold expects that more kids will be able to take advantage of the programme and possibly win scholarships to further their studies.

• This story is produced by Our City News, a non-profit newsroom that serves the people of Johannesburg.