Launch of a hands-on mathematics teacher resource manual using low-cost locally-available materials, aligned to the national primary (B1-6) curriculum in Ghana

Group Submission Type: Book Launch

Description of Session

As the exploration of manifestations of culturally-responsive pedagogy increases in the US context, examples of STEM content developed locally in Africa can offer inspiration. Practical Education Network (PEN) is a Ghanaian NGO that trains teachers to leverage low or no-cost locally-available materials to deploy hands-on STEM activities in their classrooms. Since 2014, PEN has trained more than 8,000 teachers across Ghana, Liberia and Rwanda. The foundation of its approach is its hands-on content, which is aligned to national curricular standards whilst leveraging locally-available materials to bring each topic to life. Recognizing the value of this approach, the National Council on Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) in Ghana’s Ministry of Education invited PEN to infuse its hands-on content into the revised version of the primary and junior high school national science curricula in 2019-2020.

This book launch will release PEN’s first hands-on mathematics manual. Having benefited from PEN’s hands-on science manuals, PEN’s teacher base requested for this resource to also be developed. Low-cost, locally-available materials were leveraged to present a hands-on activity for every topic in the Primary 1-6 Ghanaian mathematics curriculum. The content development team composed of a mix of African students, STEM alumni, and teachers. Activity types were developed and an ideal distribution was set for the content development team to work towards. In order to assess the relevance and feasibility of the developed activities, 30% of them were randomly selected and tested in 12 schools across 6 Districts. Scores across activity types (movement-based, manipulatives, card-based, models, and paper-based games/exercises) were compared. Response from Ghanaian primary school teachers was very positive - 80% of the activities were said to need no modification, 97% indicated that the materials used in the activities were easy to find, and a high score was received for the activities’ ability to encourage full classroom participation.

PEN’s Hands-on Mathematics Teacher Resource Manuals contain more than 80 activities in Lower Primary (Class 1-3) and more than 180 activities in Upper Primary (Class 4-6). The African-centric style and approach offers inspiration for how culturally-relevant pedagogy can manifest for under-represented minority students in the US. The activities themselves can equally be used by mathematics educators globally.

Sub Unit

• Pre-Conference Workshops, Book launches, and Visual Art Exhibits / Book Launch

Chair

• Mawuena Asem Hanson, Practical Education Network

Book Launch Presenter

• Heather Beem, Ashesi University