What teaching physics Kenya taught me about inspiring students to study maths and science

23 Oct 2018

Potential energy: Artur Donaldson speaks to students about the physics of the pendulum. (Courtesy: Artur Donaldson)

We met Mr Odhiambo at the base of the hill which rises above Maseno University in Western Kenya. I am grateful he has invited me and two Kenyan mathematicians visit the school where he teaches. My mathematician colleagues, Lazarus Kioko and John Maina, are members of the African Maths Initiative (AMI) — an organization whose mission is to strengthen the culture of mathematics across Africa.

I am a physics undergraduate at Imperial College London and I was in Kenya recently with two objectives: to encourage more Kenyan students to study physics and to see how technology can be used in teaching physics.

My visit with Odhiambo happened just as I had finished helping to teach physics at a week-long maths camp organized jointly by AMI and its UK counterpart Supporting African Maths Initiatives (SAMI). The annual camp is an initiative to inspire high school students to study maths and science at university by giving them creative classes organized in collaboration involving local and international academics.

Fostering academic relations

Since its foundation in 2011, thousands of young people have been hosted at the camp and the initiative has been replicated in several other countries across Africa including Ghana, Ethiopia and Tanzania. In fact, some former students have returned to the maths camp as teachers, having graduated in maths at university. Furthermore, the camps help to foster academic relations across continents through the collaboration between international and local academics who give the classes.

Odhiambo led us up the hill towards Emmatsi Secondary School, the high school where he teaches. His seven years of experience working as a dean at the school are clear as he guides us around the rounded boulders and over the stream sneaking through the red earth. In Kenya schooling is split into eight years at primary and four years at secondary level. Odhiambo’s school is a small secondary school with around 250 students. Unfortunately, physics is not a popular choice amongst students in Kenya.

Since launching its Digital Literacy Programme (DLP) in 2016, the Kenyan government has delivered over 300,000 tablets to primary schools across the country, which makes the country the ideal testing ground for schemes to use technology in teaching. This provides benefits not only to primary schools but also to the surrounding community. For instance, the Emmatsi Secondary School sometimes uses the tablets and projector from the adjacent primary school. Indeed, when reach the top of the hill and pass by the primary school from which emerge straining necks and the excited cries of “muzungu, muzungu!” — “foreigner, foreigner”.

Brand-new computer suite

After the warm welcome at the high school, including white tea and mandazi buns, we set up for the lesson in the brand-new computer suite. In the corner are piles of boxes and packing materials because the donated equipment had just been installed the week before the half-term break and we were the first to get them in action.

The third and fourth form students enter with pens and calculators to hand awaiting a lecture. They were about to be surprised.

I start off the lesson, forgetting to introduce myself, by brandishing a rock on a piece of string and asking them to name it. After some encouragement they roused the confidence to say that I was holding a pendulum and offered suggestions as to what might happen if it is released from different heights. We went into a discussion of energy, which involved me jumping off a chair to demonstrate the transformation of potential energy into kinetic energy.

Afterwards we got hi-tech and powered up the projector. I called on volunteers to use a simulation of a pendulum to conduct a series of experiments. Some of the students had not used a laptop before and it was heartening to see them learn how to use a trackpad. I hope that they enjoyed my lesson as much as I did!

Learning without the Internet

The peak of the hill was one of the few places I encountered during my time in Kenya where there is no mobile phone reception. This means that the school and its suite of computers are isolated from the Internet — because like most of Kenya, there is no wired broadband service in the area.

Although Kenya leads Africa in terms of Internet access, Odhiambo and his students are not alone. According to the Communications Authority of Kenya around one in seven Kenyans did not have access to Internet in 2016 – often because they do not have access to a smartphone. In neighbouring Ethiopia, however, just 2% of schools had internet access in 2012, which is one of the lowest figures globally. Even in the poorest European nations, 61% of schools have Internet access. Given how young the population is in Africa, this means that vast numbers of learners in Africa are without Internet access, putting them at a huge disadvantage compared to their global peers.Working offline: Mr Odhiambo of Emmatsi Secondary School uses Kolibri (Courtesy: Artur Donaldson)

Thankfully there is a solution to lack of Internet access called Kolibri. This is a wonderful free offline educational teaching platform that allows institutions such as schools to use free educational material and manage access to resources all without Internet access. AMI is keen to help tackle this challenge, and this has begun with Emmatsi – making it one of the first schools in Kenya to run Kolibri. AMI has also received a grant to carry out a trial installing Kolibri at a further four primary schools around Kitale.

I look forward to seeing how Odhiambo uses the new computers in teaching and will keep in touch with him. I know AMI will also continue to maintain contact with him.

With cheap smartphones, the proliferation of Internet coverage, and the sensible investment choices of the government, massive amounts of educational material can be made readily available even in the most remote parts of Kenya. If children, educators and governments make effective use of Internet resources I have confidence that more Africans will choose to delve into physics.

Local organizations such as the AMI are playing an important role in stimulating grass-roots initiatives to help bring about this future. However, science does not happen in a vacuum. More international collaboration between scientists in the developed world and Africa could dramatically improve the work.

Artur Donaldson is a physics undergraduate at Imperial College London. He is currently running an online campaign aiming to raise at least £200π (or £628) to support the African Maths Initiatives.

23/10/2018 from physicsworld.com