STEM – a crucial focus of the Ministry of Education

Sep 05, 2015 News

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An addition has been made to the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) syllabus for Science. This according to National Science Coordinator, Petal Punalall-Jetoo, translates to the inclusion of a project component which requires that students plan and write a proposal on how they can use science to solve problems.
The addition is one that is designed to see students incorporating tactics that are similar to the approach embraced by the Sagicor Visionaries Challenge.
The Sagicor Visionaries Challenge encourages secondary and high school students to develop effective, innovative and sustainable solutions to the challenges faced in their respective communities.
The annual challenge is open to entries from Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, St Lucia, the United States and Trinidad and Tobago.
It is geared towards boosting institutional capacity in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in secondary and high schools; ignite interest among youth in the Challenge countries for innovation in STEM to help build and integrate sustainable communities and integrate knowledge gained from formal and informal education to enable future leaders to build more sustainable communities.
The National Science Coordinator, during a recent interview, pointed to the Ministry of Education’s recent collaboration with Pueblo Science, a science-focused non-profit organization based in Canada, as a means of helping to emphasize the importance of utilizing science based solutions in the school system.
With support from Pueblo Science, several teachers were enlightened about ways they could teach STEM subjects in the classroom in a simple and cost effective way.
According to Punallal-Jetoo, “What we want to do is to find more than one approaches to using these (science based) experiments…we need to use them in the classroom.”
She therefore noted that with the Sagicor approach, students are expected to bring together different scientific methods complete with planning and designing, observation, data collection and analysis.
Students are also required to complete a project report. According to Punalall-Jetoo, “What we have found in our schools is that while students do an experiment and they learn how to observe and report, they may do another exercise where they learn to plan.”
But the National Science Coordinator asserted that “sometimes the difficulty is bringing the planning and the observation together.
This is what is connecting the dots. What is good about the kinds of sessions (offered by Pueblo Science) that we have is that it shows integration between biology, physics and chemistry which is good for teachers.”
With the support that has been forthcoming to science development, Punalall-Jetoo is confident that improvements in STEM will be realized as it is expected that the knowledge gained will be effectively utilized. “It is beginning to initiate interest,” said the Science Coordinator as she made reference to the fact that “not many of our students enter the science stream in the secondary schools and I think that is because there is fear that scientists are weird or science is difficult.”
She however asserted that Science can be learnt by anyone since it is merely a way of thinking. “We just want everyone to use that scientific method of analyzing a situation or any problem that’s presented to them or even if they want to go and purchase a vehicle.”
With scientific knowledge, Punalall-Jetoo noted that people can ask vital questions to ascertain if such a purchase would be suitable for their purposes.
“Would it be suitable for you to buy a small or bigger car?  What kind of gas consumption would it have? And we use these kinds of processes in our everyday life sometimes; we do not make the connection to science and sometimes if we do not use the scientific method, we can end up making decisions that are detrimental to ourselves,” she asserted.
Alluding to a Paddy Husk Particle Board Project which allowed Abram Zuil Secondary School to be named the national champion, and subsequently triumphing over seven territories, including the United States, earlier this year, Marlene Chin, representative of Sagicor spoke of the viability of the winning project.
According to her, “It is our desire that local businesses could appreciate the commercial viability of this project and adopt it.
This is a call out to the Chambers of Commerce, to the Rotary Clubs, to the business community to take a look at this winning project; it is certainly one worth investing in,” said Chin.
The Caribbean Science Foundation (CSF), Sagicor Life Inc. (Sagicor) and the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) believe that, through greater community involvement, the citizens of the Caribbean can live more sustainably and build a better future.
With this in mind, the Sagicor Visionaries Challenge was designed to promote STEM subjects in the school system, a path that the local Ministry of Education is fully embracing.
Already the 2015 leg of the Sagicor Visionaries Challenge has been launched and Chin has already impressed on Guyana the importance of working towards success.

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