Some teachers and trainers of the 2021 National Science and Maths Quiz (NSMQ) finalists have pushed for the introduction of more practical sessions in science classes.
They believe this would go a long way to bridge the wide gap between theoretical and practical knowledge of science students.
It emerged that during a visit by the 2021 NSMQ finalists to the Sharjah Museum in Dubai, the students could not apply their knowledge in re-arranging the parts of a dummy digestive system.
After demonstrating their knowledge excellently on the NSMQ stage, winners of the 2021 edition from Prempeh College and the other finalists from PRESEC-Legon and KETASCO gave their teachers a reason to focus more on practical lessons in class.
‘Science students in Ghana need more practical sessions’ – NSMQ teachers advocate after Dubai science museum visit
At the Museum, various practical illustrations of scientific experiments are displayed to court the interest of young people for the sciences.
From physics to chemistry, and from biology to other science disciplines, visitors are allowed to try their hands on the set ups to appreciate the reasoning behind each experiment.
For their first turn, the three teams from Prempeh College, Keta SHTS and PRESEC-Legon won the admiration of their colleagues in the school for putting up better interactions during an electricity show.
But one after the other, all three teams failed to correctly arrange the parts of the digestive system, exposing an apparent gap in their practical knowledge.
Their teachers noticed this and resolved to campaign for a change in the teaching approaches and methods to ensure students make practical use of the acquired knowledge.
“We have the same model there but they don’t actually fix it, they just study it and they don’t go through that kind of steeplechase of fixing it; that is why they are not used to. From here, we will make sure at least those down there learn how to fix it.
“Going forward, when we go back, we will inform the teachers so that when they are teaching them models like this, they will allow students to be actively involved by fixing themselves,” one teacher said.
The students were at the Museum as part of an all-expense paid trip organised and sponsored by Adansi Travels.
They started the tour from Nairobi in Kenya where they visited a giraffe centre and a carnivore restaurant.
This trip by Adansi Travels has not only afforded the students some fun time, but also highlighted the need for the inclusion of more practical sessions in science training in Ghana.
