EXPLORATORY ENGAGES STUDENTS OF GA WEST IN DESIGN CHALLENGE

At the invitation of the Ga West Municipal Education Directorate, The Exploratory engaged about 60 junior high school students in a design challenge on Tuesday, August 27, 2019. The problem of the day tasked students to design a system that enabled one to detect a fall in the level of water in a storage tank.

The students were participants of the 2019 Ga West Science Camp which took place at Doblo Gonno, a suburb of Amasaman, in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. The camp brought together selected students from various junior high schools within the Ga West Municipality. Our Pokuase programs are part of this Municipal Education Directorate.

The Exploratory team took the students through problem identification, problem solving and practical thinking lessons before the actual challenge.

The students attempted the problem of the day with joy, curiosity, teamwork and confidence which translated into the quality of work that each team produced. The students expressed their joy at the exercise and how it enhanced their understanding of electric circuits and how such knowledge could be applied in solving their own problems.

Selina Kawudeen, a pupil of Nsakina La Basic School said, “Today I learnt how to connect a simple circuit and I can apply it at home in case our light goes out whiles I am studying in the evening. I can connect the components of the circuit to give me light to learn”.  

Eunice Owusu Baiden of the Christian Centre Academy said, “I have learnt how to solve problems when I am faced with one. I also learnt about how to work in groups”

“I am very impressed with the session that we had today. It was very practical, participative and collaborative and I liked how the various teams were able to come up with interesting and nice designs,” said Mr. Richard Kwoshie Kovey, one of the organizers of the event and a rep from the Science and Mathematics Unit of the Ga West Municipal Education Directorate.

“This is the kind of education we want in our classrooms so we would like to plead with Exploratory to extend their support to all the schools in the municipality so that at least once a while they can collaborate with the municipal education directorate to organize such an event. I believe this will help improve science and mathematics education and learning in our municipality”, he continued.

Team 6 carried the day with their water gauge model which had an alarm system built into it. They designed a rod with aluminium foil at its base such that as the water level in a container (representing a tank) drops, the rod touches the bottom of the tank which causes the alarm to go off.

The Design Challenge is one of the Exploratory’s flagship programs that hopes to equip students with problem identification, design thinking and problem solving skills and how such skills could be leveraged in solving day to day problems in their homes and communities.