Achievement

Experiential learning is sorely lacking in many of the grade schools that our IGERT fellows visited in Africa, with children typically learning by repetition and chalkboard-based lectures. Our current IGERT fellows have worked to expand the "optics suitcase" demonstrations from the Optical Society to allow hands-on teaching about solar energy. New demonstrations on solar energy have been developed that can be carried out in locations without any infrastructure, such as electricity or running water. The second cohort of IGERT fellows will be traveling to Ghana soon to use the new demonstrations and leave some of the teaching materials at the schools. We will be refining the demonstrations based on the feedback received. This activity is currently featured on the Optical Society Foundation website.