One of the goals coming from the TGR Foundation, STEM Studio was to organize and train trainers at the academy and in our network on project-based learning and share all the new resources on bringing STEM to life. In order to ensure that students at the academy have the best experience learning about critical thinking and problem solving it is essential that our trainers are trained in all the new methodologies and approaches to achieve that goal.
The 2 day workshop had trainers learning about project-based learning, online quizzes and games to access students in a fun way, problem solving with challenges, padlet to get even the most quiet student to share and contribute in class, the design thinking methodology which supports effective idea sharing, team work and the feedback process with the gallery walk through. They also got to assemble a fold scope. Foldscope is the ultra-affordable, paper microscope that you assemble yourself. Designed to be extremely portable, durable, and to give optical quality similar to conventional research microscopes (magnification of 140X and 2 micron resolution), Foldscope brings hands-on microscopy to new places! They got examine hair and the trainers went outside to examine other things with the power of a microscope in the hands and their cell phones
Then we had a session on using Scratch for game development by Kevin from Leti Arts. We had three trainers who have joined our network from the Volta Region that we trained and will support as they train others in the Volta region. The trainers also got the opportunity to bond, network ad work as a team.
We are excited to see the impact as the trainers transform their class and bring STEM to life through hands-on activities that develop strengths, define passions and outline career paths.
