Team Reflections

Team Reflections

Science, Exploration, Education, and storytelling using foldscopes in rural Kenya.

Read the blog post here

Adventures in the plant kingdom at Kongoni Community Library

On 3rd November 2021, 66 grade, five pupils from Tumaini, Kongoni, and St. Triza primary schools in Kakamega County had the opportunity to explore adventures in the plant kingdom at Kongoni Community Library. This was in liaison with librarians, teachers, and Edutab Africa.

After being introduced to foldscopes (paper microscopes), they were able to observe various parts of a plant including; stomata, plant cells, and root hairs.

The excitement of the learners was visible as they identified the different parts that they were able to observe on the foldscopes.

It was a great day whose success was made possible by everyone who participated.

Stay posted for more updates while implementing this project!

Exploration and Microscopy: Virtual meet-ups with teachers

On 10/12/21 we had a virtual meet-up (thanks to Zoom) with teachers from schools such as Rayzons, Lenana Girls, Mtelo Girls, and St John Fisher's Mbuinjeru secondary schools.

It was in these forums where we could hear about teachers' experiences using foldscopes while at the same time sharing our own experiences.

For example, Mr. Ogetto from Lenana Girls high school was keen to share his experience while studying and teaching about molds. He said that the images were clear and distinctive while observed under the Foldscope. He also appreciated the fact that the gadgets were easy to handle.

It was in this meet-up where Edutab Africa's team members Patrick and Faith gave insights on integrating the contextualized materials in the classroom and non-classroom settings e.g. in Science clubs.

We shall keep you posted with more stories from schools, teachers, and communities while implementing this project.

Introducing the art of exploration using Foldscopes; Rayzon Schools experience

On 1st December 2021, we visited Rayzon School, Kitale a school that is located within our community to introduce microscopy to teachers at the school.

This is a school that we had interactions with from a Robotics and ICT program in 2019. We had quick reflections on the impact of some of the programs implemented on teaching and learning. The teachers were delighted to learn about Foldscopes and how they could actualize some of their dreams of making learning immersive and engaging. We had a few pre-prepared slides of pollen grains. They were amazed that the pretty-looking and fine yellow particles with spikes that they saw were pollen grains. After that, we observed mosses and insect wigs. " I have been using videos in some of my lessons but with this is a tool teaching will be enjoyable and exciting ", said one of the teachers.

One of the teachers saw this as a tool that could help learners in topics such as hygiene, plants, and water pollution. On hygiene one of the teachers observed particles that he took from his nails in order to understand the magnitude of dirt or germs that our nails could carry. "These observations would help learners understand the need to trim nails and wash hands", said the teacher.

During this visit, the art teacher saw images from plants as viewed from the foldscope as opportunities for her learners to creatively adapt them in art lessons.

We shall keep on sharing more experiences from schools, communities, and virtual meet-ups in subsequent updates!