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Ministry pushing science, technology in schools
One of the major objectives of the Ministry of Education is to raise the level of scientific consciousness in the country and to increase public understanding and appreciation of the importance and potential of Science and Technology in human progress.
One of the ways that the Ministry has set out to do this is by implementing the use of innovative teaching and learning strategies that are student-centered and fun. 
“We want our children to love Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). How can we make them love science? Let them be the little scientists in the classroom and in their school environment,” commented Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand.
Teaching using the Inquiry learning cycle is what is being promoted to do just this.
The Caribbean Academy of Sciences (CAS) saw the urgency in addressing teaching methodologies for science and introduced the Inquiry-based Science Education – (IBSE) method at its first Primary Science Teachers’ Workshop held over two days from October 9, 2008 in Grenada.
This method has proven to stimulate interest in science. It engages students’ curiosity and helps them to build on their ideas.
Last year, the Ministry of Education launched a pilot in six Primary schools to implement this methodology in Grades Five and Six with financial assistance from UNESCO. During the training sessions over 120 teachers and 1070 pupils benefitted. Not long after, Exon Mobil through Youth Challenge Guyana extended this programme into four other primary schools.
The use of IBSE offers the following:
Hands on: – students are involved in really doing science and mathematics directly and vicariously.
Minds on: focusing on the core concepts and critical thinking processes and skills needed for students to create and re-create scientific and mathematical concepts and relationships in their own minds.
Reality on: Offering students problem-solving activities that incorporate authentic, real life questions and issues in a format that encourages drawing on multi-disciplinary knowledge, dialogue with expert sources and generalization to broader ideas and applications.
The experiments are linked to the national curriculum and promote the use of low cost local materials for experimentation.
Pilot schools for this project include Winfer Gardens Primary, St. Margaret’s Primary, CV Nunes Primary, CI Primary, Leonora Primary, Arapaima Primary, All Saints Primary, Skeldon Primary, Peter’s Hall Primary and BV Quamina Primary.
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