SCIENTISTS FOR TOMORROW : GLOBAL ESSAY 'DISADVANTAGED'

 

Teaching science using the ordinary. When it comes to science education, you don't always have to rely on fancy science laboratories and expensive materials.

Big telescopes and fancy robots can be enticing for children and adults alike. However, these should not be the only points of reference that come to mind when key stakeholders think about ways of engaging children from disadvantaged communities with science.

I have taught science for almost 12 years in schools and kindergartens in Norway, at the 94-year-old Science Museum in London and during the last few years in communities and schools across Pakistan from Skardu to Larkana.

In my work across Pakistan these last five years, if one thing has stood out strongly, it is the importance of using the ordinary to engage communities with science.

The learning came to the fore during the pandemic. For the first time since we had begun working in Pakistan, we had no choice but to pause and rethink how to engage with children, families, teachers and schools. New ways to connect with them were required. This wasn't easy at all.

Eventually, despite the many limitations related to digital connectivity in most parts of Pakistan, we took a leap of faith and began engaging our partner schools and their students digitally.

We used WhatsApp as a tool to send these lessons, receive reflections and helped teachers solve problems. They were given training and tasked to engage students in their schools and communities every week using these stories as science lessons.

Since we were engaging students via local teachers, this allowed us to nurture ambassadors, who even after the programme ended would be well-equipped to create learning resources on their own and continue meaningful science engagements within their communities.

Gul Rukh encourages readers to explore the world around them. Titled, Gul's Science Adventures, we started writing recipes for experiments.

This essentially meant that instead of giving cooking instructions, through Gul, readers learnt to design rockets using recycled materials, making instant ice cream and using salt instead of a freezer, concocting delicious candy on their stoves, guess anyone's birthday using the power of mathematics and so much more.

Gul Rukh's adventures were recipes that we then scripted and video-recorded to be used directly by children aged 7-14 years, as well as their parents and teachers.

This meant that we could now send teachers video lessons and scripted lesson plans with step-by-step instructions. These allowed them to teach science using hands-on experiments that were playful, culturally relevant and investigative.

These resources can also be used by parents who can act as facilitators to encourage the process of discovery and cultivate wonder among children.

When it comes to science education, you don't always have to rely on big wow moments that require fancy science laboratories and expensive materials. On the contrary, sometimes using these materials can actually prove counter-productive and alienate children from marginalised groups and communities from STEM subjects.

Big telescopes and fancy robots can be very enticing for children and adults alike. However, these should not be the only points of reference that come to mind when key stakeholders { think educators, policymakers, and government officials } think about ways of engaging children from disadvantaged communities with science.

Equipped with this important learning, earlier this year, we joined hands with the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training's STEAM Pakistan project.

Through this programme, we have taken our model of teaching science through the ordinary to 10 public schools in the federal area.

While the engagements are still in their infancy, early observations reveal a clear spike in interest among students in science and mathematics now that they are being taught, giving the textbook a back seat.

We hope that with the introduction of this new teaching approach in public classrooms, we will be able to create a ripple effect that will make science and mathematics learning accessible to students in a way that these subjects transition beyond the classrooms and become a wholesome part of students' everyday lives.

The World Students Society thanks Lala Rukh Fazal-ur-Rehman, founder and CEO of the social enterprise, Science Fuse and Malala Fund Education Champion.