GIRLS IN STEAM HOLD SCIENCE DAY FOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

As Chancellor College prides itself on community service, one group of staff that have always been exemplary are the young female lecturers in the Faculty of Science, who have committed themselves to getting secondary school girls interested in STEM subjects.

On 26th January, 2019, the Girls in STEAM Network, together with Dreams Innovation Project, organized a Science Day for students from the South Eastern region of Malawi and had the Desk Officer for Secondary schools from the division, Mrs Chinyamu, present. The venue was Hippo View Lodge at Liwonde. STEAM is an acronym that stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics.

The facilitators were drawn from various colleges in UNIMA. They included Chikondi Shaba, Susanne Barnaba, Fiskani Kondowe, Eggrey Kambewa, Halima Twabi, Jessie Khaki and Esther Kaweruza.

The women engaged students in fun science experiments focused on environmental conservation. They conducted experiments on making manure, mosquito repellent using coconut oil, eco-friendly pesticides, recycling plastics, and making paper briquettes, among other activities.

There were also exhibitions in physics by Yamikani Kalolo, a 4th year physics major, which are in line with the secondary school syllabus. The group was also joined by Yussuf Chimole, final year Poly student and ASW coding challenge winner, who has been active with the group in using his creativity to introduce ICT and applications of physics to secondary students.