SUSTAINABLE EXPANSION
Swedish edtech outfit hopes to further roll out its different approach to education
Last year, Swedish edtech start-up Strawbees arrived in Thailand, bringing with it its simple but innovative tools for science and technology learning. Through a partnership with Aksorn Nex, the digital unit of Bangkok-based Aksorn Education, its kits are being made widely available in order to encourage creativity while promoting the concept of sustainability.
Strawbees are educational kits that allow users of all ages to connect straws and other basic materials to build models and mechanical objects of different sizes. Sustainability is promoted through upcycling stations that creatively reuse waste materials.
In September, Strawbees won the Nordic Edtech Award for 2018 during Oslo Innovation Week. All finalists represent the Nordic Edtech core values: equality, democracy, quality, motivational learning and efficiency. Strawbees kits were also recently endorsed by the United Nations as educational tools for schools.
Company founder and CEO Erik Bergelin said that the three most important things for schools are creativity, sustainability and affordability. The Strawbees project hopes to bridge the digital divide and help reduce inequality in education. A few weeks ago, for example, a team from Strawbees went to promote their system in Ghana, a country where children have very little. In February next year, they will go to Uganda.
“In Ghana, the kids started innovating without us even telling them what to do,” Bergelin said. “We developed a die cutter. Kids took waste materials from home or wherever and put them in the machine.”
The team went to a school in the jungle. After the children had their lunch, they took their juice boxes, flattened them and took them to the upcycling station.
“We created Strawbees out of the juice boxes. After we made some of the waste materials into something useful, the children immediately learned their value. That built awareness of sustainability,” he said, adding that this can also make a big impact in Thailand.
The company hopes to get children more aware of the environment as they learn to use the system.
“If we succeed in this, then we can make a big difference everywhere. That would be a big change in the world of education,” Bergelin added.
Strawbees do not require many materials. The products are resource effective. Children create their own toys using any material: cardboard, bamboo, paper or whatever comes to hand.
Still there are several challenges here. Coding, hands-on building and applying theory in practice are all important. And all three are new concepts to most young students.
“Applying theory at an early age is good for learning,” Bergelin explained. However, he admitted that it remains a challenge for Strawbees to get included in school curricula. There is no difference between developed and developing countries, he said. The challenges are the same. The project is still so new that no one — from the sellers to the government to schools — fully knows yet how to implement it.
It’s a massive task and it will take some time to make it work. The partnership with Aksorn Nex, therefore, is especially important. Thankfully, in Thailand, Aksorn Nex has a large market share, which can make the transition go faster.
Strawbees now exists in more than 40,000 schools and in 200,000 homes in over 50 countries. The rapidly growing edtech plans to do much more next year.
“The key for us is to combine blended learning with a flipped classroom approach, making life easier for the teacher, especially in coding and robotics, which can sometimes seem complex,” Bergelin said.
If we succeed in this, then we can make a big difference everywhere. That would be a big change in the world of education