Axim Welcomes Science Workshop

Our last post was about Jerome and Paul going to Axim, Ghana. This photo of the welcoming banner says it all! Meanwhile the Engineers Without Borders team arrived safely home yesterday. Soon we'll post a few photos of their work on Axim water resources.

Science Workshops in Axim

Jerome Chandler, Professor Emeritus, Skagit Valley College in Mount Vernon, WA will conduct three week-long workshops for 66 JHS science teachers in the Axim, Ghana School District. With the generous assistance of many friends, Jerome has assembled an impressive set of low-cost materials, mostly built out of ordinary household materials, to demonstrate the principles of physics. He is basing his workshop content on the Ghanaian Dept of Education JHS Science Curriculum.

For example, shown here is a portable tripod, used to support a pendulum, which he says "perfectly demonstrates the scientific methodologies of observation, measurement, and repeatability." Another innovation is the use of two ordinary "slinkies" at about $1.50 each, sewn together with copper wire, with which he can demonstrate all kinds of compression, and wave action, including surfs, tides, currents, etc. (Axim being on the Atlantic Ocean, this is very down-to-earth). He made a simple jigsaw puzzle to show continental plate tectonics, and has various other simple devices to show electrical currents, ultraviolet light, and other natural phenomena. Jerome found a good used overhead projector and assembled dozens of visual materials---creating them himself or through the generosity of Skagit Valley College Science Department. On each overhead transparency he indicates the exact spot in the Ghanaian Science Curriculum that contains the concept he is conveying. All of the materials will be left with the Nsein Senior High in Axim to be available to teachers throughout the district.

The workshops are an outgrowth of conversations between Ghana Together visitors to Axim, and the science curriculum leader there, Mr. Sarfo Hayford. The teachers asked us to find a creative teacher to help them figure out how to teach their curriculum with simple local materials they can afford---not a simple request in a severely strapped community, where the basic teaching materials are blackboard, chalk, and exercise book!

Jerome is accompanied by his son Paul Chandler, who will assist him and also work with the children at WHH Children's Home on One Laptop Per Child Computers and teach them how to play harmonicas!

The workshops are sponsored jointly by Western Heritage Home (Ghanaian NGO), and Ghana Together in conjunction with the Nzema East Education District-Axim.

Engineers Without Borders-NW Washington Chapter Heads to Axim

Two years of planning...countless meetings...numerous phone calls to Ghana (not easy given the erratic phone service and the unfamiliar accents!)...FINALLY, the Bellingham-based Engineers Without Borders Team is heading to Axim, Ghana.

Led by Ravyn Whitewolf, whose daytime job is working as a lead in the Bellingham City Engineering Department, the team includes 5 civil engineers, plus a professional surveyor. They are heading to Axim to work with the Ghana Water Company. Their mission? To work with Wilson Kwadam, Axim Water Company Manager and his engineers to assess the inadequate water supply now available to the city of Axim and formulate a plan for increasing it.

Ravyn also is a Ghana Together Board member. We are thrilled that we, together with Western Heritage Home, our partner NGO in Axim, are able to help with communication, lodging, transportation, and other logistical aspects for the EWB team.

The team has created a blog to forward news while they are in Axim. To learn more about their project and follow their progress, please click on:http://ewb-nwprofessionals-ghana.blogspot.com/