End of the year happenings

November 15, 2014

These days at school things are winding down. The Form IV students have finished taking their national exams and the rest of the students are in study mode making final preparations for their end of the year exams. For us teachers, it's a matter of guiding review and providing exercises to helps students get ready.

With my Form IV kids gone, and my Form II kids spending time studying and doing exercises, I have turned my energy and spare time towards improving my teaching techniques and getting ready for next year and in some ways getting ready to leave my school (as I will be doing in about 10 months time). A common complaint at my school is that there are no resources for teaching aids and science lab apparatus so I decided to prove the complainers wrong by making physics apparatus that nobody can ignore! I (as the head of the physics department) was given 9000 shillings (~$5.50) for the performance of the students on their practice national exams this year, and with that money a student teacher and I are making huge physics teaching aids which will be installments on school grounds.

This one is a fulcrum for a teeter totter to help teach about moments and equilibrium

This will serve as a stand to hold different apparatus for the topics related to springs and pulleys

There is currently construction going on at my school on the laboratory so all of the wood is coming from the old lab structure ($0), all of the cement (which is not much...) is coming from the new construction ($0), nails will be recycled ($0), weights will be made from used plastic water bottles ($0), the bar for the fulcrum was scrap from a carpenter ($0), and we have access to the tools of the construction crew so the labor is on us and a few helpful students ($0). I'm currently having a hard time finding somewhere to put my 9000 shillings...

Renovations on the old lab

Foundation of the new lab

Harvesting wood from old rafters

Mixing cement and sand (more bang for the buck)

Post-hole digging with a machete

We have a couple more ideas for teaching aids to install after these are finished: one for friction/inclined planes, and one for Archimedes' Principle/floatation/volume of irregular shapes. So we will keep at it. Can't wait to teach these topics next year! And maybe more importantly to make a point of them. Teaching aids are easy, cheap, necessary and FUN!