The day after tomorrow I leave for Tanzania.
During the past school year I spent considerable time researching the Tanzanian Practical Chemistry handbook, to try to understand what types of experiments a student in Tanzania is expected to perform as part of O-level chemistry. Of course, the vast majority of Tanzanian students have no access to laboratory facilities of any type, but our intention is to start with Tumona Secondary School and to build a functioning science classroom that can be used by Tumona students and students from three nearby schools.
In the past two years we have brought some equipment to Tumona, helped the students to paint some educational diagrams (including a periodic table) on the walls, and worked a bit with the science teachers. However, this year marks a departure as we attempt to bring a fully functional, if basic, chemistry lab to Tumona and to do systematic training with teachers on how to use the equipment, and how to use lab experiments to improve students' mastery and retention of the material.
I've developed nine laboratory exercises, and am bringing some equipment with me and will buy other equipment and chemicals in Tanzania. I'm planning a two-day workshop for teachers at Tumona and the three neighboring schools. However it appears that up to 45 teachers (which would be every teacher in the School District) wants to come to the training. So we'll see what happens.
I'm fully expecting that things will go wrong along the way, and that this will be a learning experience for us all...
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