Science Club for Girls in Ghana!

It's 3:30 am. I'm staying up to wake up the taxi driver to take me to the bus station, so I can catch one of the earliest buses from Kumasi down towards Accra. In about 7 hours, I will be delivering a 4-hour workshop to 10 teachers from the Pokuase area, to prepare them to lead Science Clubs at their schools in the coming year.

I delivered the first workshop to 14 teachers and 2 principals about 10 days ago. That particular workshop focused on regarding science as a process, and the importance of hands-on (practical) exercises as a way to learn and experience science. I also introduced the learning cycle and questioning techniques as ways to engage student thinking and participation.

Teachers Workshop

(Click on photo to go to album)

I considered the workshop a success. 7 schools in and around Pokuase were represented. The teachers were attentive and participated enthusiastically. The evaluations suggested that teachers were hungering for professional development--many said the 2.5-hour workshop was not long enough, and wished for additional opportunities. They certainly wanted more hands-on examples that were related to the curriculum. It would certainly be worthwhile to have more time to sit down with teachers and work through specific questions to use and more concrete ways to introduce topics, as I only had time to do so with one set of them.

Importantly, one person wrote that this was probably the first time that teachers had the opportunity to gather and hear from each other and learn from each other's practices. It was certainly important and encouraging to me that many of them were very proactive and already engaged in good science teaching practices, and for their colleagues to realize it is possible to teach science differently. The evaluation suggested that almost of all them recognized the importance of the practical as complementary to the "theory" and all said they would definitely change the way they teach as a result of the workshop. Moreover, each school wanted copies of the skits--two different scenarios for wrapping up a session--from the dogmatic, intimidating teacher to the encouraging "guide of the side". My only worry is that a few may have thought both were positive examples of teacher-student interaction.

Today's training will be with 10 teachers, who will work in pairs to recruit girls in 4th grade and conduct science clubs. They will definitely be getting a lot of hands-on experience. The hope is that not only will girls in the clubs benefit, but the training and experience will provide substantive resources that will also transform teaching in the school day classroom.

With luck, Dr. Olivia Kwapong at the University of Ghana and Frances (MIT alum living in Accra) will also be able to connect me with additional like-minded Ghanaian individuals and/or institutions here so we can have local counsellors and oversight.

Crossing my fingers!