Image School Visit

I just returned from 4 nights at Image Secondary School where I installed a computer lab with Global Outreach and worked with the Science Teachers on experiments. A student of mine from 2010, Joseph Uhemba, was my host and he gave me his room to stay in at the house he shares with Shedrack Kikoti, the head of the Science department, and two young men who work a shamba (small farm) and take care of things at the house including taking care of a couple pigs for raising piglets.

Joseph Uhemba and I, I am the taller one.

The first night Shedrack made Ugali with a tomato stew, vegetable, and dried fish from Mtera dam.  The fish is too strong for me so I just had the ugali with vegetable and stew.  Ugali is made from maize flour and has a consistency like mashed potatoes, it is the white ball in the photo.  Cooking is done inside on charcoal stoves called jikos and is a very involved process.  The life of a teacher is to go to work early in the morning (7 AM), get home around 5:30 or 6, and spend the rest of the night preparing and eating dinner before going to bed.  Joseph's and Shedrack's house has a 45 W solar panel that provides lighting all night which is much nicer than a smelly kerosene lamp.

Shedrack Kikote, science teacher and 1st night cook

Global Outreach arranged transportation to bring us to Image with the computers and return with the old computers that used to be run on the generator.  The driver was driving a bit fast for a car full of computer equipment and he demonstrated the low status for dogs in this country by running one down without slowing a bit.  The primary role of dogs is for security as noise makers and most Tanzanians are somewhat afraid of dogs.  However they do belong to families and often have names and someone may be missing that dog.  Miraji, another student of mine from 2010 working with Global Outreach, texted me on his return that the dog was amazingly still alive but I think he may have been trying to make me feel better about it.

Computer class with the new computers.

We installed 13 low wattage, netbook like computers, a file server, and a wireless router to run on a 200 W solar power station.  The file server was loaded with educational content, including a 130,000 file wikipedia selection, math and science videos, an English learning program called Genki English, high school and college digital science textbooks, a medical encyclopedia, copies of past NECTA secondary school examinations with study guides, and more.  The wireless signal reached all 14 of the O level classrooms so teachers with a laptop could access the content in the classrooms if they wish.  I saw about 6 teacher laptops which can also be powered with the solar and an Airtel modem works at Image so they can have internet.  Internet has drastically reduced in price since I was here in January and 500 MB for a month now costs about $5 making it affordable for teachers who earn about $200 - $300/month plus receive housing.

Secondary students have four years of Ordinary (O) level instruction leading up to national exams (NECTA) in 7 to 9 subjects.  The examinations run 2 weeks and students take them with much anxiety (called exam fever which has caused instances of mass fainting, especially among girls).  The exams for science now must include a practical laboratory exercise that counts for 50% of the science score.  This is new for many village schools which used to be able to substitute with a theoretical alternative exam and is one of the reasons for my visits.  I helped the teachers prepare solutions for volumetric analysis titrations and do a standardization of an acid solution.  We then did volumetric titrations with 65 Form IV students as a practice for the exam they will be taking next month.  The students did a great job doing the analysis and had a good understanding of what they needed to do even though they had not done laboratory work before.  The school has a nice library with US textbooks from a Books for Africa shipment.  The Tanzanian textbooks are the ones in demand however because they are tied to the curriculum to prepare for the all important exams and they are kept on reserve for the students to check out to use in the library.  The students can go there for their private study (PS) periods and in the evening when the generator is running to light up the classrooms.  The students I saw were mostly reviewing and copying lecture notes and one had a Tanzanian textbook.

Performing Volumetric Analysis titrations with 65 students

Reading the burette should be at eye level, an advantage for me.

The 2012 Form IV exam schedule, click to enlarge.

The Image School Class Schedule, click to enlarge.
 

The library, the Tanzanian textbooks are preferred over the US ones.

I attended biology, math, and kiswahili classes and also walked in on a couple other classes that did not have a teacher present.  Students for each Form (class year) are split into streams to have average class size of 50 to 65 and they stay in the same classroom all day.  Students rise and greet the teacher when they enter the room. Class periods are usually double periods of an hour and 20 minutes (see schedule) with the first class starting at 7:30, a 30 minute break at 10:10 when the teachers have chai and mondazi (tea and a fried doughnut) and the students have breakfast, and then classes continue until lunch at 2.  After lunch there are special programs like the laboratory periods I went to, other special topics, or sports. The Kiswahili teacher made me take attendance, pronouncing or mispronouncing each name to teach me proper pronunciation. I also gave the English teachers copies of "mini books" designed by the Mwangaza Tanzanian staff (Mwangaza is a Lutheran partnership for education based in Arusha that we visited last February).  Mini books are two sided pages folded into a book that have a story, associated vocabulary on one side and related content and a grammar lesson on the other.  They chose two stories dealing with nutrition and with malnutrition. For students that do not have textbooks, having their own mini book has been fun for students up North.  I was not able to see the class use the books before I left, unfortunately.

Tawala Kikoti, Biology/Chem, giving a lecture on the Endocrine System

Students in Biology class, 50 - 65 per class.

The second lab day we did some experiments with Form III students.  I showed them a reaction that is done in US schools known as "making slime" by crosslinking glue with borax.  Normally we use white elmers glue but the Tanzanian glue is a colorless solution of partially hydrolyzed polyvinyl acetate polymer (I wasn't sure what the glue was until I bought some and it crosslinked with borax).  Mixing diluted glue with a solution of the borax (sodium tetraborate) causes the polymer chains to crosslink forming a rubbery gel that is mostly water and fun to handle.  We also did electrolysis experiments by taking D cell batteries apart to get the graphite electrodes and connecting a 9 volt battery to them in Epsom salt solution to produce Hydrogen gas at one electrode and Oxygen gas at the other. The students could see more bubbles on the Hydrogen electrode confirming the ratio in H2O.  I was impressed that the students knew which was the anode and which the cathode, the electrochemical series, and that hydroxide ion would react before sulfate ion.  We next changed the solution to use sodium chloride salt and this produces Chlorine gas instead of Oxygen because the chloride ion is much higher in concentration.  The students could smell the chlorine.  Students wondered if the graphite in a pencil would work as an electrode and they stripped a pencil to connect it to the battery and found that it worked very well.  The students were very excited about doing science activities and there was a lot of chaos trying to let all 65 students see what was going on.  At the end they were asking when can we do science experiments again and hopefully their teachers will continue to do other experiments from the book I brought that was written by a peace corps volunteer with Tanzanian teachers for doing experiments with materials available in Tanzanian village schools.  Another group was more interested in how they could make soda.  I told them to get some baking soda and vinegar to generate carbon dioxide gas and bubble it into a solution of orange juice with sugar.  Homemade Fanta!

Tawala Kikote demonstrating electrolysis.

Next week I go to three other diocese schools and help them set up science practicals.  The other schools are not as well equipped or well stocked with science teachers as Image so it will be interesting to compare.  They are also in more remote areas so I will probably not have such nice accommodations.  The Headmaster of Image, Andeck Ngogo, is providing the school car to take me to the other schools.  He just finished his master's thesis at Tumaini University on "Factors affecting quality education in Diocese Schools" and will be visiting Minnesota this November as a nice fit with my trip as we investigate how we can help the schools improve.

Shedrack, Joseph, me, Tawala in front of the science building. Shedrack is looking pretty stylish wearing my hat.  I am glad I do not have a mirror with me.

Friday afternoon football after lunch, Form II beat Form IV.

Joseph on his motorcycle to get water in town.

Children on my last morning who thanked me for taking their picture.  

Children here love to see themselves on our digital cameras