Learners are usually curious to find out more about scientific issues. With the shift to ‘new’ curricula at secondary school levels, more emphasis is on learners being at the centre rather than the teachers.
This means that learners are expected to search and find out more about certain concepts. One of the ways of doing this is exposing learners to designs of simple experimental set-ups to understand ideas and making learners to see in real life some of the equipment which are sometimes in the form of pictures in textbook.
Universities and higher institutions of learning are the next destinations for these learners coming from secondary schools. If universities want good and excellent learners coming from secondary schools, then they should be involved in offering a helping hand as a deliberate effort aimed at contributing to the learners’ achievement at secondary schools. How can this be done?
Universities offering science courses are expected to have fully functional and well-equipped laboratories as guided by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE).
In fact, before a programme is accredited, a team of experts from NCHE must assess the readiness to have such a programme in terms of laboratories and equipment, among other things.
Therefore, all universities offering science courses have state-of-the-art laboratories. This means that science departments such as physics, chemistry, and biology, among others, can be actively involved in offering science outreach programmes in the form of academic trips where learners and teachers are able to come to the university departments to learn about certain specific concepts that require practical approaches, yet the equipment needed for such practicals is not available in their schools. In this way, learners and teachers will be able to connect theory with practicals.
Furthermore, science-related departments at universities should deliberately design workshops for science teachers to demystify certain hard-to-understand concepts by providing easier ways of dealing with them. This can be done through designing and documenting simple experimental setups aimed at improving and maintaining the quality and standard of the science subjects taught.
For learners and teachers who are very far away from the universities, alternative approaches such as the use of online workshops and video recordings of experimental set-ups should be considered.
For instance, videos on physics experimental set-ups to support learning can also be made available in local languages. Similarly, the use of smart phones in aiding learning in the form of apps with simple physics experimental set-ups should be developed by the university lecturers.
Once this is in place, learners and teachers will be able to learn at their own comfort. This can be applied to any field of science that has the capacity to accelerate innovation in the country.
We have been experimenting with these ideas at the Department of Physics, Kyambogo University. We deliberately took an approach of welcoming secondary school learners for academic trips.
Recently, we hosted St Mary’s Ediofe Girls Secondary School, Arua City, and Our Lady Queen of Africa Rubaga Girls’ Secondary School.
The activities included the tour of Kyambogo University, career guidance by members of staff from the Physics Department, exhibitions and hands-on demonstrations of the different physics concepts, notably with solar concentrators and solar panels.
These were of great interest to the learners a lot. The feedback obtained from both the learners and teachers pointed to the fact that academic trips focusing on science outreach by learners to universities are very useful, and particularly inspire the learners. Many schools in the countryside lack such opportunities of exposure.
These kinds of initiatives are aligned to the human capital development programme of the National Development Plan (NPA) agenda of Uganda and will contribute to Uganda’s Vision 2040 on the strategic focus of knowledge generation for the purpose of transforming the Ugandan society from a peasant to a modern and prosperous country by giving hope to the young aspiring scientists.
By universities opening their doors to these learners, they are unlocking the potential for future scientists. These initiatives aim at being inclusive and equitable by making it accessible to everyone, regardless of gender and location. This is in line with sustainable development goal 4 (inclusive and equitable quality education).
Science departments at universities in Uganda should play a pivotal role in creating opportunities for science outreach programmes/academic trips. This will ensure that science subjects like physics are made interesting and accessible as a solid foundation for other courses at universities.