Title: Innovation - the key for developing countries

Authors: Isaac Kweku Aidoo; Kenneth Kofi Fletcher; Ama Baduba Asiedu-Asante

Addresses: Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Mines and Technology, P.O. Box 237, Tarkwa, Ghana ' Department of Computer Science, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA 02125, USA ' Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Mines and Technology, P.O. Box 237, Tarkwa, Ghana

Abstract: The current economic state of most developing countries portrays low-income levels of their citizens. This is due to several factors, of which lack of innovative thinking is fundamental. Typically, innovative thinking usually starts with developing creativity at the early childhood stage. Therefore, the developmental stages of children, i.e., during their years in kindergarten, must be structured in such a way to enhance innovative thinking. This article looks at innovation being a key to advancing developing countries when incorporated in educational curriculums. Specifically, the information and communication technologies (ICTs) educational curriculum of Ghana, a developing country, is analysed and compared to curriculums from the UK. Finally, ways to improve the acquisition of cognitive skills, using specialised learning aids in Ghana's ICT educational curriculum, to transform students' innovative thinking processes are proposed.

Keywords: innovation; developing countries; BBC micro:bits; information and communication technologies; ICTs; LittleBits; Raspberry Pi; syllabus; scratch coding.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIIE.2018.097855

International Journal of Innovation in Education, 2018 Vol.5 No.2, pp.142 - 163

Received: 09 Nov 2017
Accepted: 17 Sep 2018
Published online: 19 Feb 2019 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article