Demystify teaching and learning of science – Elsie Kaufmann

Renowned biomedical engineer who doubles as the host of the prestigious National Science and Maths Quiz, Prof. Elsie Effah Kaufmann is calling on stakeholders in the education space to help demystify the teaching and learning of science.

According to the University of Ghana lecturer who is seeking to transform the way of teaching science in Ghana and other parts of the world, making science practical right from the basic level will bring out the best in students.

She believes that practical training will make students problem solvers in the future.

Through her Elsie Effah Kaufmann foundation in partnership with Dext Technology, she is embarking on a project called “Alpha” where she is championing the use of the science set in various schools to make its study more practical.

“The time for change is now, parents, teachers, and schools, we cannot compromise. We cannot afford to make a difference now. We need the change. Help us to make science more practical. Help us to make our education more relevant,” she said.

Prof. Elsie Effah Kaufmann who has over the years trained and interacted with many science students is confident that giving students more practical training from the basic school level would be the right investment in them.

“Times are hard. That is very true, but times would be harder if we don’t plan now, the reason we are investing in the future that we all want to see. We want to train these young students to come up to be the problem solvers of the future. If times are hard because we have problems now, and we don’t know how to solve them, are these problems going to go away without doing anything about them? So, it’s an investment. We need to do the best we can now. We cannot compromise,” Professor Kaufmann said.

Dext Technology, the Ghanaian company that produces the science set says it is well-positioned to supply more to all Ghanaian students and beyond to make teaching of science very practical.

Director of Strategy for Dext Technology Limited, Caleb Fugah says so far, through their partnership with the Elsie Effah Kaufmann foundation, 200 schools in Ghana have adapted to the new way of teaching science in basic schools.

“Over 200 schools and counting within Ghana are adapting to the new way of teaching science in the basic schools. This has been possible through Prof. Elsie Effah Kaufmann, the founder of Elsie Effah Kaufmann foundation. The main focus of the foundation is to transform the way teaching and learning of science is done right from the root–that’s from the basic level. The foundation focuses on primary four to six since they have the introduction of the new curriculum–the standard-based curriculum which focuses on practicals,” Mr. Fugah said.

The foundation has been entreating schools to register and begin the process of giving their students the opportunity of using the science set by visiting www.eekf.org where teachers would be given the necessary training on its usage.

Science set

With many basic schools not having science laboratories, the science set serves as an all-in-one laboratory for students who practice various experiments with it.