Project Details:

Cost-effective Chemistry in the Primary School

A low-cost small scale primary school science system will be developed and then evaluated in a number of countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It is to stimulate interest in science generally, and in chemistry in particular.

There is abundant evidence that practical work in science education is under siege. Practical work in primary and secondary schools even in developed countries is contracting as cost, safety and environmental issues take their toll. In developing countries, cost has been the main influence causing its virtual demise. As a result, science remains abstract and alien to young students and they are not attracted to further study. The problem is currently being addressed at the secondary school level with microchemistry kits and ancillary materials developed at the RADMASTE Centre in South Africa. A joint programme with UNESCO and IUPAC-CTC is disseminating information about this approach, and it has aroused serious interest in both developed and developing countries. We now wish to complete the design of equipment and supporting materials for chemistry at the primary school level. This level of education is of particular importance, because in developing countries many students do not proceed further. Hence public understanding of science is critically dependent on primary school experiences. The prototype system will be evaluated in a number of sub-Saharan countries where we have established suitable contacts: Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Rwanda and Zambia.

A complete system for doing practical work from grade 4 to 7 in science has been carefully designed. The system consists of a pupil's pack, a facilitator's pack, and a chemicals pack and has the capacity to serve as a solution to lack of equipment and laboratories, safety problems, and even to limited teacher knowledge and skills in primary school sciences.