Project Stages

 Since we've started this project, we have been effectively piloting the model in order to begin to change the way science and maths are taught in the Educaid Sierra Leone schools. We are introducing the notion of moving away from the very traditional pedagogy of lecture and reading about content and experiments others have done to test the content, with some memorization of all this to do well on the end of year testing that takes place nationally, and into an active, hands-on pedagogy where students actually can do some experiments themselves and learn/experience the process of science and applications of maths. 

This is very much a change in mindset, as well, for the teachers. We must not forget that the teachers were taught traditionally, and that is what they know and how they have been teaching up to this point. Eventually, in the next couple years, we want to expand the new approach to more schools across Sierra Leone, and also let friends and colleagues in other countries make use of anything we do that may be helpful for them. 

The Stages of this work have been and will be the following: 

1) Set up the website and get lessons developed and published.

2) Get teachers started on learning relevant lessons, training them on how to do such lessons, and allow 

    them to implement different lessons within their classes.

3) In Maths, bring in collaborative work and Maths Fairs for students and teachers to participate in. As

    of June 2021, there have been three fairs, one of which included visiting schools. 

4) In Science, allow students to take on experimental and research projects, and begin annual Science

    Fairs. Students and teachers will also learn how to write up scientific work, and also present/defend 

    their research to others. This could include collaborative work between students in Sierra Leone and 

    in the USA. 

5) Mentor lead science teachers directly to advance in their content, as well as mastering doing the lab

    -based lessons. Ultimately, they will be designing and creating their own lab and hands-on lessons 

     and projects. 

6) The mentored teachers who have been trained and using the new pedagogy can introduce this way of

    teaching-learning and the active lessons to colleagues at conferences and trainings in Sierra Leone, or

    even at conferences/meetings with educators from other countries. We want to share this on a 

    wider scale, for others looking to move into active/authentic science and maths learning, and/or those

    who do not have science equipment or electricity. The other option is for educators to visit Miriam's 

    schools to observe active lessons and learn how to implement the new pedagogy. This is a 'train the

    trainer' model for expansion. 

Some lessons have been used for events in Kenya and Malawi, and perhaps be introduced to educators in Uganda and anywhere else where educators are interested. But the completed lessons on this site are available for anyone in Africa or other parts of the world where this type of transition from a very traditional, inactive way of teaching-learning science and maths to hands-on, active experimentation and investigating of the concepts, as well as applications of the content, takes over as students are effectively learning not only science content, but how to be a scientist. 

A more advanced piece of this is an extension of the experimental lessons being developed and used here. It takes a class lab lesson concept to the next level: student science research. A good resource that is available to anyone and everyone is the CABS site. This promotes the notion of students doing actual, original science research that does not require a university or other professional laboratory.