Practical STEM education is the surest way of equipping young people with the skill sets needed to navigate the challenges of the 21st century towards sustainable development.

The EduSTEM programme addresses a major barrier to practical STEM education in many Ghanaian classrooms: The high cost of science equipment, which prevents students from ideal, experiential STEM education. We establish STEM clubs in our network communities and train volunteers in the use of locally-sourced materials to improvise basic equipment for use in experiments. Volunteers comprise Junior High School science teachers and Senior High School graduates.

Besides offsetting the cost-constraint to science practical STEM education, educating volunteers and science teachers on science equipment and experiments improvision enables volunteers and science teachers to gain a deeper understanding of the principles of operation of the equipment they use,  thereby equipping them to better deliver on science concepts. It also impacts less negatively on the environment by encouraging micro-scale experimentation using less toxic, everyday alternatives. This is in line with the broader Edu Spots commitment towards environmental sustainability.

Why STEM clubs?

 Clubs are a collaborative, fun way of engaging students and instilling in them critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and communication skills – skills invaluable to success in the twenty-first century. We have partnered with Dext Technology, a Ghanaian start-up that produces note-book sized electronic science sets which we use at our STEM clubs across our ‘spots’. We provide science teachers in our communities with practical training in the use of these science sets.

Also unique to our STEM programme is the collaboration with science teachers and students across borders. Our club activities are designed in collaboration with science teachers and students in Ghana and Sevenoaks School in the UK. In line with our sustainability outlook, communities have ownership of these clubs and are involved from the beginning.

We are happy to announce the successful completion of the six-week-long pilot of the programme at Akumadan after a successful pilot earlier at Kapohin. In all 9 schools participated and committed fully to the programme in the Akumadan pilot. Results of this pilot up soon!

Have a view at the participating schools in the following map: