PRESS RELEASE Future women scientists enjoy a day of STEM activities at their schools in Mardan. Mardan: A series of science activities for students were organized at Government Girls Higher Secondary School Takht Bhai Mardan, by Robokids and Pakistan Alliance for Maths and Science. Students participating in the demonstrations from Grade 6 to Grade 10 were excited to recreate some of the experiments they had been studying in their textbooks throughout the school year and develop technical models using their robotics kits. The activity gave children an opportunity to brush up their STEM skills under the guidance of experts in Robotics, Games Programming, Electronics and Mathematics which they otherwise miss out on owing to lack of resources and teaching expertise at the public school-level. Science and robotics can be tricky subjects to teach to young minds but demonstrating science experiments in the classroom can pave the way for experiential, creative and fast learning for both teachers and students. Level of interest and fascination in the classroom raised when the children completed the construction of the Windmill & also when they operated it using the micro controller. They sought practical science approaches from the concerned authorities. “I never thought I could learn science from such interesting experiments” said Mehnaz one of the students of grade 9th. We have learnt to make use technology and we feel inspired to invent new technology to help Pakistan become a technology advanced country. These activities are a part of a series of science initiatives in schools promoted by the Elementary & Secondary Education Department, KP. Last year, government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa organized a science summer camp for over 2,000 government schools to develop interest for science among students and promote innovative teaching methods for science through easy-to-do activities in the province. In Pakistan, quality of learning being imparted in schools, especially government schools is extremely poor. Maths and science scores are especially low – according to data collected by the National Education Assessment System, the average score for science in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is 44%. Last year, Pakistan Alliance for Maths and Science (PAMS) had released a set of recommendations in a three-volume report titled Powering Pakistan for the 21 st Century for the federal government and governmental bodies working in science and technology to allocate more resources to maths and science at the federal level with a targeted spending plan, and to explore pathways for enabling and supporting talented students interested in maths and science.
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