Shika na Mikono and the Ministry of Education

Sure, it might not make the most exciting title for a Harry Potter spin-off, but it was still a monumental event in the short history of Peace Corps Tanzania’s Shika na Mikono hands-on science group. Since its origin in 2009, the Shika group has had opportunities to work with the Ministry at various workshops, but it has typically been for the purpose of creating new teaching manuals and resources. Last month, however, marked the first time Shika has been invited to actually conduct sessions at a Ministry training. And it was a huge success! Below is a write-up we made as a Peace Corps Success Story, which will soon be published in the PC Tanzania weekly newsletter given to all PCVs and PC staff. The Ministry contacts who invited us to this training have already invited us to additional regional math and science trainings in Mbeya and Dodoma at the end of this month. Enjoy!

The week of the 21^st through the 25^th of October, Peace Corps’ Shika na Mikono hands-on science team was invited by the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT) of Tanzania to help facilitate an INSET workshop for national and regional trainers in Morogoro. The workshop provided various Math, Science, and Language trainers with the necessary information and resources to train other Tanzanian teachers upon return to their respective regions. Sessions focused on educational improvement, including Big Results Now (BRN), classroom and presentation skills, and hands-on science, which is where Shika na Mikono was called in to assist.

The Shika Team were allotted one day (five hours) with the Math and Science trainers to share their experiences of using locally available materials to teach hands-on science in Tanzanian schools. The five members of the Shika Team included Belle Archaphorn (Mbeya), Willie Blackmon (Mbeya), Steve Bonomo (Ruvuma), Ryan Early (Dodoma), and Ben Savonen (Iringa). Workshop Coordinator Dorothy Mwaluko and Salum Kilipamwambu from the Ministry assisted the Shika members in their preparations, while also providing the supplies and resources required to conduct their sessions.

Approximately 70 trainers represented the four subject panels (Math, Biology, Chemistry, and Physics). After a brief introduction to the aims and goals of the Shika na Mikono group, the trainers were split up by subject for the first session: The Box of Fun. The Box of Fun is an activity that challenges teachers to come up with teaching aids for various assigned topics on the spot, using only a limited number of locally available science materials (LASMs) to be shared among all groups. The trainers were forced to use their creativity to construct interactive teaching materials to be used in the classroom as well as the laboratory in the absence of traditional teaching resources. After each group had a few minutes to brainstorm and construct, they were given a chance to present their ideas to the whole group. It was great to see the creativity and innovative ideas of each group, which proved that science and math do not require expensive materials to teach in an exciting way!

Ministry trainers develop teaching aids using LASMs in the Box of Fun activity

Following the Box of Fun was a session entitled Shika Express, which involved a gallery walk and science fair set-up of various, short demonstrations that can be done in the classroom, also using LASMs. Tables were aligned so that all participants could walk around and observe demonstrations for all subjects, which were led by the respective Shika members. Demonstrations included construction of a simple DC motor, alternatives to litmus or pH paper using hibiscus leaves, a cardboard model hand to show joints and movement, as well as multiple interactive mathematics teaching games.

Participants interact with hands-on Math and Science demonstrations as part of Shika Express

After the chai break, the Shika Team began its second session with a presentation on performing science competitions for students in order to stimulate their creativity and interest in the math and science subjects. Following a short introductory video and explanation, the trainers were divided into teams of 4-5 and asked to perform the competitions themselves. Teams competed in one of two different events: Egg Drop and Bridge Challenge. The Egg Drop competition required teams to design and build a device using a limited set of materials to safely carry an egg from a drop height of roughly 3 metres. Teams taking the Bridge Challenge were asked to build a bridge that could withstand the greatest load before failure. However, they were given only 15 Science Shillings with which they needed to purchase all (locally available) construction materials from Mama Belle’s Science Duka. Following construction, all of the devices and bridges were observed and tested for all groups to see. What a fun way to learn about science!

Teams design and build devices for the Egg Drop Science Competition

The Bridge Challenge tests teams’ abilities to build and budget efficiently

The final session led by the Shika Team was one on conducting math and science NECTA practicals by substituting local materials for expensive lab equipment. Participants were able to see and think about alternative methods for doing practicals at schools which lack traditional laboratory apparatus. Beakers were replaced by water bottles, glass test tubes by plastic syringes, expensive chemicals by their local sources - these and many other examples helped to prove that science can be taught anywhere and on a small budget. In this way, students can see that science exists all around them in their daily lives and not just in the laboratory.

Upon completion of the Shika na Mikono sessions, Salum and the Shika members expressed their gratitude for the invitation to participate in the Ministry of Education INSET workshop by presenting the coordinator with several copies of the Shika na Mikono hands-on science and math manuals to be given to the head regional trainers for further distribution at future trainings. The Shika Team looks forward to future opportunities to share interactive math and science teaching ideas, as well as a continued partnership with the Ministry of Education in Tanzania.

The Shika Team poses with Ministry representatives.
(Top row) pictured left to right: Ben Savonen, Ryan Early, Willie Blackmon, Salum Kilipamwambu, Steve Bonomo
(Bottom row) pictured left to right: Belle Archaphorn, Dorothy Mwaluko

USA RELOADED

In the time since my last blog post, I took a brief, yet densely intense return trip to America, my second since originally coming to Tanzania in June of 2011. My two-week refresher included attending a cousin’s wedding near Chicago, followed by a baseball-road-trip-inspired tour of Texas. As it was my first taste of ballpark tours in 3 summers, as well as my first chance to watch live baseball in a couple years, I was extremely excited and more than willing to pack in the extra travelling to an already-limited stay home (besides, who can complain about transportation that leaves on-time and gives you a seat all to yourself?).

My Texas tour began in Austin, where I had a day to explore the campus at the University of Texas and splurge on some delicious tex-mex stuffed avocados and sweet tea. After meeting up with the rest of the gang, we drove to Houston to see an Astros-Yankees game, whose meaninglessness in terms of league standings was overshadowed by what I thought to be a really cool stadium in Minute Maid Park. The highlight was getting to see the engineering wonder of the 20-minute retractable roof opening for a post-game fireworks display. The next day we got an early start to Arlington to catch a Rangers-Angels game (this one actually relevant) that got bumped up 7 hours due to imminent storms. Narrowly dodging the rains after the Rangers victory, we sought shelter and killed some time playing 4-way air hockey, complements of Dave and Busters, and then stayed the night at Belle’s family’s house near Plano.

 

As luck would have it, some of the other recently-returned PCVs from my class (and fellow Njombe-natives) were also in the area and were able to meet up for a very disappointing all-you-can-eat pancakes brunch at Steak ‘n Shake (it’s no IHOP, I shoulda known…). While the baseball group headed back to Austin, I stayed a couple extra days to spend some more time with Belle’s family. They took me to the Texas State Fair in Dallas, which featured the single largest display of unexpectedly deep-fried foods I’ve ever seen, including (of course) the deep-fried thanksgiving dinner. I was also able to try all kinds of home-made and dine-in Thai food (none of which are done justice by the word scrumptrulescent) and also meet a lot of the extended family and friends who live nearby.

The trip home was a great way to rejuvenate myself as I continue now in my one-year extension, but in actuality it was just a snack, as I’ll be coming home once again around Thanksgiving for my month-long home leave granted by Peace Corps. So for everyone I wasn’t able to see this time, I’ll still see you soon!

As for life back in Tanzania, things have been getting really exciting with our Shika na Mikono group, so much so that it warrants its own separate post! And so, submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I call this blog post…

I’m Extending (Part 3 of 3)

Although it probably could have been inferred from the fact that I’m not back in America after completing 2 years of Peace Corps service, I can finally say with certainty that I am in fact extending my service for a third year. After spending much of the last few months in uncertainty on what the next step for me would be, I was finally able to realize that what I most want to do right now is continue teaching here in Tanzania and continue the work I’ve been doing with the “Shika na Mikono” hands-on science group and conducting science competitions around the country. In other words, I want to be a travelling science man who goes around Tanzania promoting interactive science events and working with other Peace Corps Volunteers.

I will be staying at my current site at Wilima Secondary School near Njombe, and will continue teaching, though with a reduced number of scheduled periods. I am continuing to teach Form I Math, but will have more time to prepare Physics lab practicals for students in every grade level. Hopefully around once a month or so, I will be able to visit other Volunteers’ schools or nearby towns and provide the materials and planning to do science competitions / seminars with their students. Depending on how things go, it may also be possible to do region-wide science fairs and possibly gain added support from the Ministry of Education as well.

So please stay tuned as things progress, as I will continue to give inside looks into the various events and conferences that I take part in around Tanzania. If there is anyone who may be interested in supporting these kinds of events, either by donating money, books, supplies or other learning resources, please feel free to contact me by email (sbonomo3@gmail.com) for now, and please also be on the lookout soon for a more direct way to contribute that I will make available online. BUT PLEASE DO NOT SEND PACKAGES OR BOXES OF SUPPLIES TO MY PO BOX IN NJOMBE!!!! Problems with the Njombe customs office continue to stifle attempts at receiving care packages from America, so until things get figured out, please don’t send anything other than letters to that address.

In other news, I’ll be coming home in a couple weeks! For the last two weeks of September I’ll be home - a Game Night wedding and a Texas baseball trip are just too much of an excuse not to use to come home, so I am very much looking forward to that. Plus, one of the perks of extending for a full year with the Peace Corps is that they give you a month’s home leave to use whenever you want. So I’ll be adding on a few days using my regular vacation time to be home from Thanksgiving, all the way up through New Year’s! Can’t wait to hopefully get to see everyone over at least one of those trips!

Science = Explosions (Part 2 of 3)

Belle, Ben and I were the three chosen representatives from the Shika na Mikono hands-on science team to go to the pre-service training (PST) of the newly arrived 2013 class of education volunteers. The location of PST was changed this year, from Morogoro, where I completed my training almost exactly 2 years ago, to the altogether underwhelming new location of Korogwe, near the coastal region of Tanga. However, despite its lack of luxuries, conveniences and more than 2 dining options, Korogwe did perhaps offer the trainees a more genuine “Tanzanian experience” than its predecessor. And at least we were able to tell the new group in all honesty that going to their sites would almost certainly actually be an upgrade compared to what they’ve gotten used to in 10 weeks of training.

During the week, the trainees stayed at their CBT’s, or local clusters of nearby village schools, while we made preparations for our sessions on Friday and Saturday. Our task was to prepare the volunteers for teaching math and science in a Tanzanian context and to show them ways to use cheap and easy-to-find materials to make their teaching more interactive. But of course, as has been the case for the past couple years of such trainings, the primary area of focus was to make a dazzling explosion-filled introduction that would hopefully scare the new volunteers as much as inspire them. So that’s what we spent the majority of our week prepping for.

Here’s what we did: For a while, the Shika team has been working to perfect locally available recipes for gunpowder and smoke bombs, so we made a few trial batches of each to make sure everything would go as planned. For the introduction, the group was led into a dimly lit open dining hall as initial smoke bombs were thrown into the charcoal jiko’s (stoves) placed on the front stage. Out of the shadows appeared Ben, who as he walked out, initiated a video space montage, finely tuned to coincide with the song Lux Aeterna by Clint Mansell (think Requiem for a Dream). Throughout the video, Ben stood on the stage in front of the crowd, giving a passionate monologue on the mysteries of space and our attempts to understand the universe through science. Meanwhile, Belle and I slowly approached from the back of the room with lit toilet paper torches, lighting kerosene-soaked rocks on the ground on either side of the standing crowd, before setting off pouches of gunpowder front and center, and then finally ascending the stage for a synchronized final trio of smoke bombs as the music reached its final crescendo and Ben capped off his speech with, “We are….Shika na Mikono!”

Of course in a perfect world, things would have actually lit as they were expected, been timed correctly, and we would have mysteriously disappeared behind a wall of smoke and reappeared in the back of the room. But it was still pretty entertaining I think, and we made sure to admit that we are in fact nothing more than a bunch of nerds who like to blow things up.

Needless to say, the rest of our training was a let down compared to the introduction, but it was the first time the trainees had training sessions that weren’t just sitting and listening to powerpoint presentations, so they all said they really appreciated our days with them. For our first session, we split them up into small groups and dumped out a giant “Box of Fun,” filled with different items that can be found almost anywhere at very little cost. Each group was given a couple topics from the various science syllabi and had to come up with some kind of engaging way to present the topic. There were some really creative ideas from the volunteers, and Ben, Belle and I shared some of our own that we’ve picked during our time teaching. We also introduced them to the idea of doing science competitions by having them do an Egg Drop competition, and showed them how to set up and conduct science practicals, or lab experiments. A couple times we split up into separate math and science groups to talk about issues specific to those respective subjects.

In the end, it was a lot of work and travel for a couple days of training that went by incredibly fast, but we all loved being able to lead our sessions and getting to know the new group of volunteers. They will be headed to their sites in early September, and it sounds like 3 will be coming down to Njombe, so that’s very exciting.

And I’ll actually be able to get to know them because…

Puppies, Pills and P-hysics (Part 1 of 3)

A few weeks after starting the new term at Wilima, I decided to make my first stop as a travelling science man at Belle’s site, Mwatisi Secondary School in Tukuyu, near the town of Mbeya. Loading up the science wagon (backpack) with the necessary provisions, I hit the old dusty trail (crater-laden dirt road). But along the way, sickness struck in the form of some kind of tonsillitis / mono virus – I’m still not totally sure which one it was. The timing was convenient enough, since I was spending the week at Belle’s site anyways, and that made it much easier to recover and maintain a steady overdose of Advil. What also made things much more tolerable was that Belle had just inherited an 8-week old puppy from a nearby Volunteer’s recent puppy surplus, so Apollo was able to keep me in as high of spirits as possible as he struggled to adapt to new concepts of indoor bladder control and not being constantly smothered with attention.

Having tonsillitis / mono in Tanzania while sleeping with a puppy every night – is there any better way to define juxtaposition?

Luckily, by the end of the week I was feeling a little better, and so the science competition was able to continue as planned. Once again, science wins the day. It was slightly more difficult to do a weekend event at Mwatisi, since it is a day school, and most of the students do not come in on the weekends. But at least half of those who were expected to show up came within 3 hours of the stated starting time (pretty darned good by TZ standards), so everything worked out great. We were able to use several of the activities that I have done in the past, and saw some new and interesting ideas from the Form III students. They were all really excited to participate, especially when we handed out prizes of colored pencils and USAID-provided school supply pouches. At a school whose only 2 science teachers over the last 3+ years have been Peace Corps Volunteers, it was pretty cool to see the students getting so excited about doing science activities. And the school headmaster and some other Tanzanian teachers were there observing most of the time as well, and really seemed to appreciate and get into the events themselves.

So for me, it was back to Wilima, but only for a few days, since the following week would be the Shika na Mikono (hands-on science) group’s turn to lead training sessions at the new Peace Corps Volunteers’ pre-service training…

Jake’s Visit and Safari Circuit

Last month, I was lucky enough to have yet another visitor during my time here in Tanzania. Jake and I did a tour of some of Tanzania’s northern attractions, which was just as much of a treat for me, since I had yet to pass through many places in that part of the country. Over the course of our week and a half trip together, Jake and I were able to do some scenic hiking, scourge the country’s main safari circuit, while also getting some in depth looks at Tanzanian culture, village life, and of course a wide variety of bus experiences.
Our tour began with a ride up to Moshi, home of the famous Mt. Kilimanjaro and well-known for its cool climate, hilly forested landscape, and huge coffee production. After meeting up with some other Peace Corps Volunteers, we went for a day hike to a nearby waterfall with an incredible 20-foot cliff to dive off of into a swimming pond below. The water was freezing cold, but the exhilarating jump made it worthwhile.

Damp and shivering, we followed our guide to the house of an old coffee farmer who is of the Chaaga tribe. He welcomes any and all visitors and demonstrates the entire coffee production process, from picking and de-shelling the beans, roasting and “twanga”-ing (grinding) them, and boiling water to serve the fresh coffee on the spot. Admittedly I am not normally much of a coffee enthusiast, but even I thought this was delicious, and also the perfect thing to warm us up after our impromptu swim.



From Moshi, we made our way to Karatu, the starting point for our safari, located right in the middle of many of the big northern game parks, including the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. Our safari was a 3-day trip through Lake Manyara National Park, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and Tarangire National Park. We would have liked to hit Serengeti as well, but it is located much more out of the way from the other parks, and didn’t fit into our travelling plans as well as the others. But that doesn’t mean the trip was any less exciting.

Lake Manyara National Park has a very diverse landscape and offers a wide range of stunning scenery. It has many dense forests which house a large number of baboons and elephants, as well as expansive plains near the lake which contain large herds of wildebeest and buffalo. These animals prefer to roam in open areas to get a better look at approaching predators. The entire park is bordered by a wall of mountains on one side, which is where our campsite was located and offered a wonderful view of the lake and trees below at sunrise. Even though it is a relatively small park compared to others in the area, Lake Manyara had a huge variety of animals and other wildlife, and was the perfect way to start our safari adventure.












Day 2 of our safari took us to the famous Ngorongoro Conservation Area, known for its 22 km-wide crater that is home to nearly every animal you could hope to find in East Africa, including the endangered black rhino, of which there are only about 100 left in existence. The crater is officially not a national park, because there is also a large population of the Maasai tribe that continues to live in their native home amongst the animals.

Shortly after descending down into the crater, we spotted a male lion laying low in the tall grass with a small herd of zebra approaching unknowingly. When the zebra came close enough, two additional female lions who had been hiding with the male sprang up, and one of them took off chasing after the zebra. She was unsuccessful in her attempt, but it was such an amazing sight to see up close and in person. The male and the other female remained behind, but amazingly were then actually chased out of their territory by a group of buffalo who apparently saw how tired and outnumbered the lions were. The male gave an angry roar, but had to accept the will of the buffalo and so the two of them retreated to a safe distance, which, conveniently for us, was right in front of our car on the side of the road.

 











Although the majority of our excitement came early on in the crater, the rest of the day was still filled with many spectacular sights. We saw elephants, giraffes, ostriches, flamingos, warthogs, and a mother hyena nursing her pups. At one point we stopped the car in the middle of the road, surrounded on all sides by TONS of zebra and wildebeest. Watching them graze and roam from as close as a couple of feet in every direction was really something special and quite a sight to behold.

 


After a great day in Ngorongoro, our final stop on the safari tour was Tarangire National Park. Known for its many massive baobab trees and enormous elephant population, Tarangire was a great way to finish our trip. The many hills and evenly dispersed baobabs created another very unique and beautiful landscape for Jake and I to experience. We were able to spot a female lion and her cub from a distance, but by far the most prevalent animals in the park were the blue-butted, lunch stealing monkeys. We managed to eat in safety, but the unfortunate people eating near the fenced part of the picnic area were literally invaded by a hoard of hungry hungry monkeys.













The safari lived up to all of our hopes and expectations, but with its end our trip was only just beginning. We bid farewell to the luxury of having a private car to drive us around and prepared to face the real world of Tanzanian public transportation. After a couple hours of waiting on the side of the road as full bus after full bus rolled by, we managed to secure standing space (just slightly smaller than the size of our bodies) on a bus headed towards the town of Katesh, the home of another volunteer friend of mine who we were going to visit. The bus to Steph’s village was comparably packed with people, though we had at least secured seats this time by getting our tickets as early as possible.

Since it was impossible to make it all the way down to my site during Jake’s short visit, I figured the next best thing was to see another volunteer’s site. Although it was slightly out of the norm in that her house had electricity and indoor plumbing, and her neighbor had a refrigerator(!!), Steph’s site was still located in the middle of nowhere and served as a good look into the life of a Peace Corps Volunteer. We cooked, played card games, visited the neighbors, went on a long day hike to a couple of salt lakes adjacent to Mt. Hanang, the 4th tallest mountain in the country, and on the final night were invited to a massive goat roast next door where we stuffed ourselves beyond discomfort.













With the end of Jake’s visit drawing near, we made our way to Morogoro, the home of my 10-week training at the start of my service over 2 years ago, hopped on a loaded daladala and paid a visit to my host family whom I hadn’t seen in a very long time. They were really happy to get to meet Jake and greatly appreciated the surprise visit. We then finished our final leg of travel to Dar, where we enjoyed an evening walk-around and boarded Tanzania’s finest cruise vessel, a 5-minute 200 /= (about 15 cents) ferry boat that we stayed on and scored a free return trip, before finally returning to the airport.

All in all I thought it was a fantastic trip, and I was so glad to have another person to be able to share Tanzanian memories with when I return home. Thanks for visiting Jake!