San Jose Science Center Scales Hands-On Engineering Education Across Kenya
Nearly 1,500 students tested storm-ready shelter designs through an award-winning program that has reached more than 568,000 learners to date in Kenya
San Jose, CA, July 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A hands-on engineering education model developed by The Tech Interactive, San Jose’s Science Center, is helping students across Kenya build real-world problem-solving skills through creativity, collaboration, and design.
A student team tests its collapsible shelter design against simulated storm conditions at The Tech Challenge Kenya showcase in Nakuru. The 2026 challenge invited students to apply hands-on engineering, teamwork, and creative problem-solving skills.
During two weekends in July, 1,451 students on 247 teams participated in two 2026 Tech Challenge Kenya showcases in Kisumu and Nakuru counties, where they tested collapsible shelter designs through The Tech Challenge: Survive the Storm, also known in Swahili as Epuka Upepo Mkali.
The showcases are part of The Tech Interactive’s growing global work to expand access to scalable STEAM education. Through its Design Challenge Learning Teacher Trainer Program in Kenya, The Tech has trained nearly 20,000 educators and reached more than 568,000 students in three years. In 2025, the program received the Roy L. Shafer Leading Edge Award from the Association of Science and Technology Centers, recognizing its success in rapidly scaling hands-on, design-based STEM education in partnership with educators and communities across Kenya.
“The Tech Challenge has always been about more than what students build,” said Shital Patel, Director of Global Partnerships at The Tech Interactive. “It is about what they discover when they test an idea, learn from what did not work, and try again. In Kenya, we are seeing young people take on big, future-facing problems with creativity, grit, and a deep sense of possibility.”
From Silicon Valley to The Silicon Savannah
The Tech Challenge Kenya is a natural extension of The Tech Interactive’s mission to inspire the innovator in everyone by expanding access to hands-on STEAM education in communities around the world. Developed by The Tech and adapted in partnership with Kenyan educators, the program uses engineering design to help students build practical skills through open-ended problem solving.
Rather than bringing in a one-size-fits-all program, The Tech works alongside Kenyan educators, government partners, and local communities to build a model that is locally led and built to last. Through a train-the-trainer approach rooted in peer-to-peer mentorship, educators participate in remote training led by The Tech Interactive, then support and mentor fellow educators in their own communities.
That ripple effect helps design challenge learning spread across classrooms, while keeping the program culturally relevant and responsive to the students it serves.
Students Solve Real-World Challenge
This year’s challenge asked students from Grade 4 through Form 4 to design and construct collapsible shelters that could protect vulnerable structures, represented during testing by stacked paper cubes, from extreme weather conditions, simulated by two high-powered fans.
Each shelter had to be portable enough to fit inside a standard shopping bag. During the showcases, students unpacked, deployed, and assembled their designs within a timed testing window, then watched as their devices were tested in real time.
The challenge supported the goals of Kenya’s Competency-Based Curriculum by giving students hands-on opportunities to collaborate, think critically, communicate effectively, and develop practical solutions connected to real-world challenges. As communities around the world face urgent questions about resilience and extreme weather, Survive the Storm gave students a tangible way to explore engineering, preparedness, and creative problem solving.
“When young minds are given the opportunity to innovate, they don’t just imagine the future, they create it. The Tech Challenge is a celebration of creativity, resilience, and engineering excellence,” said local teacher Kenneth Odhiambo Origah.
Ahead of the events, The Tech Interactive’s local field staff visited schools across the participating counties with mobile testing equipment. These visits gave students opportunities to prototype, test, and improve their shelters before presenting them at the showcases.
“What we saw this year went beyond classroom physics. It was a demonstration of pure grit and community-minded problem solving,” Patel said. “These students unpacked very big, future-facing ideas from very small shopping bags, and their resilience was truly inspiring.”
Celebrating Process, Persistence, and Possibility
The first showcase took place Saturday, July 11, 2026, at Maseno University in Kisumu County, where 124 teams comprising 729 students participated. The second showcase was held Saturday, July 18, 2026, at Rift Valley National Polytechnic University in Nakuru County, where 123 teams comprising 722 students took part.
Throughout the two events, students presented their designs to panels of judges, explained the choices behind their projects, learned from one another’s inventions, and received recognition for their achievements. Each showcase concluded with a high-energy celebration honoring all participating teams and the work they completed.
At Maseno University, one student asked, “Is this where I can study to become an engineer?” The moment captured the deeper purpose of The Tech Challenge Kenya: helping young people see engineering not as something distant, but as a future they can imagine for themselves.
The 2026 showcases also introduced a personalized recognition framework in place of a conventional medal system. Participating students received event T-shirts and official lanyards where they displayed badges earned across eight areas of excellence, including device design, teamwork, and effective engineering journals.
Teams participated in three principal areas of evaluation:
- Device testing: Each team’s shelter was tested under simulated extreme-weather conditions.
- Team interview: Pairs of judges spoke with each team to assess the students’ engineering process, collaboration, and ability to communicate their ideas.
- Engineering journal: Each team submitted a written record documenting the development of its project from initial concept through testing and refinement.
The result was a joyful reminder that The Tech Challenge is about more solving the challenge. It is about empowering young people see themselves as problem-solvers, engineers, collaborators, and innovators.
Thank You to Supporting Partners
The success of the 2026 Tech Challenge Kenya showcases was made possible by the generous support of sponsors and community partners, including KenAfric, Tropical Heat, SBM Bank, Lifecare Hospital, Nairobi Sports House, Circle Innovation, Njoro Canning in Nakuru, Lions Club Nakuru, Syncfusion, and Sunblest.
Through financial contributions and in-kind donations, including snacks, meals, drinking water, T-shirts, certificates, and Innovation Kits, these partners helped create a welcoming, memorable, and rewarding experience for participating students. The Tech Interactive is deeply grateful for their commitment to youth innovation, education, and the next generation of Kenyan problem-solvers.
Students cheer as their shelter design is tested against simulated storm conditions at The Tech Challenge Kenya showcase in Nakuru. The 2026 challenge, Survive the Storm, celebrates hands-on engineering, teamwork, and joyful discovery.
Press Inquiries
Jessica Kilpatrick
publicrelations [at] thetech.org
https://www.thetech.org
201 S. Market St.
San Jose, CA 95113
Legal Disclaimer:
EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
