Below is a guest post from our very own Jielai Zhang. Make sure to check out the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics blog where this was originally posted!
Hello, Jielai Zhang writing in from Accra, Ghana. Right now, I am sitting in an air conditioned room hearing undergraduate physics, mathematics, engineering, computer science majors, teachers and aspiring astronomers/ astronomy educators talking about the importance of teamwork when solving problems, and doing science (paraphrased): “when we started to solve the problem, we felt like we had no ideas and it seemed impossible to be able to make any progress. However, all of us on the team seemed to have some very, very, very small ideas and when we started talking, the small ideas collected together and we started to move forward!”
Listening to this inspires me, makes me love science even more. You might wonder how I got myself into this place at this time. I am an instructor at the third edition of the week-long West African International Summer School for Young Astronomers (WAISSYA) at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission compound, collaborating with the Ghana Space Science Technology Institute. Here with me are astronomers from Ghana, Nigeria, Gabon, South Africa, Canada and Germany. We are brought together with a common goal: build a critical mass of science leaders and science educators in West Africa, and this includes astronomers.
This collaboration is special, we are brought together by a common goal, and to achieve this common goal, we spent many months leading up to the school exchanging ideas of teaching and learning. Before the week of WAISSYA, the instructors got together for a week-long instructor training workshop to learn and exchange ideas on how to teach based on education. When we teach, we not only teach scientific content, but students learn by inquiry, allowing them to practice the process of science at the same time.
I feel very honoured and enthused to be here, and wish I had been able to post this earlier, but let’s just say that the internet and my laptop both didn’t work as required! Keep an eye out here for the next post from Margaret Ikape, another Dunlap graduate student who is an instructor at WAISSYA. Also, you can check out our Facebook public page: @WAISSYA.
Thank you Dunlap for supporting myself and Margaret to be here this year. Thank you for your continued support of me being here since the first WAISSYA in 2013!
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