FRANCO IN STEM EDUCATION WITH MS KETLYNNE JOSEPH (NEW YORK)
The St. Francis College of Education has benefitted from a six-week partnership visit by Ms. Ketlynne Joseph from the Cambria Heights Academy in the New York City Department of Education, from the 7th of June to the 15th of July. The visit was in fulfilments of the FULBRIGHT teacher exchange program which was initiated by Ms. Cynthia Jebuni-Adanu, a FULBRIGHT Scholar, a STEM Educator for girls in the area of Physics, and a former tutor of the St. Francis College of Education, Hohoe.
The FULBRIGHT Distinguished Awards in Teaching (DAST) is a short-term project in Science, Technology, Education, and Mathematics (STEM) education, designed basically for females in STEM Education. The STEM program is aimed at increasing the interest of predominantly females, in becoming STEM educators. Few females participate in teaching STEM topics in schools, hence the introduction of the STEM Program will help break the cycle of low female engagement in STEM topics in schools. This would surely avert the discouraging number of females’ participation in teaching STEM topics in Ghanaian schools.
As a result, the partnership visit by Ms. Ketlynne a STEM educator was geared towards motivating female trainee teachers at Franco to become STEM educators by introducing them to modern ways of teaching STEM topics. St. Francis College of Education which is noted for training science teachers was privileged to have the opportunity to once again upgrade its academic standards through this partnership especially in the area of STEM.
Ms. Ketlynne interacted with Tutors of the College in related fields, to share ideas and give suggestions in ways they can improve upon female participation in STEM Programs. Ms. Ketlynne indicated throughout her session with students that STEM was not meant only for the major sciences. she said; “when we cook, we measure and that is mathematics, in dressmaking, we measure and that is also mathematics which is STEM. Even the building in which we are was done out of measurements and that is also STEM”. She added that even in her observation of the music lesson at Franco, she identified a lot of STEM activities. STEM is a way of life and therefore must be embraced by all students, she implied.
The partnership activities were not confined to Franco only but extended to the sister College, St. Teresa’s College of Education where Ms. Ketlynne had sections with the school for a week.
She also toured two nearby senior high schools, Hohoe EP Senior High School, and Likpe Senior High School to observe the teaching of STEM topics and share ideas. The aim was to encourage the girls in the senior high schools to also pursue careers in teaching STEM topics. In turn, with more female STEM teachers, one of the long-term goals of the DAST project is to motivate more school-aged girls in low-resource communities to pursue careers in STEM.
Hohoe (V/R), Feb. 10, GNA – Mr Raphael K. Kwashie, Principal of the St. Francis College of Education (FRANCO), Hohoe has entreated students to make prudent use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) tools to change their status, especially their academic lives.
