High school teachers from Papua New Guinea who have been doing postgraduate study at QUT are returning home with upskilled STEM teaching methods – and sustainable mini solar electricity systems.
Twenty-five teachers from PNG schools have spent six weeks in Brisbane as part of their QUT Graduate Certificate in STEM Education, which included a visit to Substation33 at Logan and the PowerWells e-waste social enterprise, and an on-campus workshop building the devices at Kelvin Grove.
Only an estimated 13 per cent of people in PNG have access to grid-connected electricity, and many of the visiting teachers are from schools with unreliable power supply.
The group is studying at QUT’s School for Teacher Education and Leadership, thanks to Australia Awards PNG Scholarships, funded by the Australian Government.
PowerWells repurposes old laptop batteries to create renewable electricity devices for remote communities. When hooked up to solar panels, these clever PowerWells can charge phones and power lights, providing an alternative to burning candles and kerosene lanterns.
The organisation was founded by QUT Design Lab PhD student Nick Kamols and Brisbane social entrepreneur Brad Clair, who ran the PowerWells workshop at Kelvin Grove.
Manasseh Fena is one of the PNG teachers who has been studying at QUT.
He teaches applied science, STEM biology and agriculture at the Wawin National School of Excellence, about 70km from Lae city in the Morobe Province.
The 400-student rural boarding school is one of six National Schools of Excellence in PNG that are implementing a new STEM curriculum.
But they’re doing it with a hit-and-miss power supply.
“The electricity supply in my school is very, very unreliable – we experience frequent power outages or blackouts, and sometimes we can go without electricity for two to three weeks,” Mr Fena said.
“I think the visit to Substation33 and the sprint in assembling the power bank with the amazing team of PowerWells was the highlight of learning about STEM at QUT.
“This PowerWell power bank that we will take home is a wonderful gift. I will use it for teaching purposes to motivate students to produce power banks from recycled laptop batteries themselves, which can solve their families’ electricity problems.
“But mostly I will use it at my home for lighting and charging phones. My children will have light to study and do their schoolwork during times of power outages. I can’t thank PowerWells enough. These are wonderful people with beautiful hearts for humanity. Personally, this is the best gift I will take home that will be really appreciated by my family.”
Mr Fena said doing the graduate certificate at QUT had been a transforming experience.
“I have unlearned some things and learned new teaching techniques and pedagogies which makes me confident to go back home and facilitate teaching and learning of the new STEM curriculum effectively,” he said.
“I am grateful to Australia Awards PNG for this opportunity, and I am privileged to be a recipient of this scholarship. I will share what I have learned with the rest of my colleagues so that we can collaborate and work together because all the teachers at my school are not trained or in-serviced on how to teach this new curriculum.”
Francis Tongapi is another visiting STEM teacher who will be taking home a PowerWell and new teaching skills.
He is the head of the mathematics department at the Aiyura National School of Excellence, a co-educational boarding school in the highlands of Papua New Guinea.
The school has more than 600 students, 32 teachers, 35 support staff, and inconsistent electricity.
“There are many times the school experiences continuous disruption and black outs, and the school depends on a standby generator,” Mr Tongapi said.
“The generator is only connected to students’ residential areas, classrooms and offices. Teachers’ houses are not connected to the generator, so we look for our own lights like phone light, lantern lights and so on.”
Mr Tongapi said the PowerWells activity was amazing, and he enjoyed the hands-on experience of assembling and dissembling laptop batteries and the boards.
He said his Graduate Certificate in STEM Education would help him deliver lessons that moved away from more traditional teaching and used STEM pedagogies aligning with 21st century skills.
“I’ve learnt so many things that will drive me to think out of box, and work collaboratively with other colleagues to carry out project based learning for students learning applied digital technologies,” Mr Tongapi said.
“I will go back and in-service more teachers on what I have learnt from QUT and be the agent of change to my school and community at large.”
The teachers’ visit is part of an ongoing QUT program, Impacting STEM Education in PNG, that was recognised in December with the Gold Regional Oceania award at the prestigious international QS Wharton Reimagine Education Awards.
QUT STEM education specialists Associate Professor Vinesh Chandra, Dr Andy Yeh and Dr Senka Henderson have all been involved in the program.
Associate Professor Chandra, who is the course leader and STEM subject area coordinator, said the QUT Graduate Certificate in STEM Education was delivered in three blocks for the PNG teachers – two blocks in Port Moresby and the final six-week block in Brisbane.
“The course has a very strong focus on student-centred hands-on learning,” he said.
“The teachers learn about classroom pedagogies, assessment strategies and how lessons can be designed and delivered to suit the PNG context and curriculum. The course also develops the teachers’ digital fluency, project-based learning and thinking skills.
“Activities such as the PowerWells workshop enable students to understand how integrated STEM can be applied to solve real world problems.
“Many graduates from pervious cohorts have taken on leadership roles in STEM education within their schools and communities.”
Dr Yeh said the teachers’ Substation33 visit and the PowerWells workshop was part of his STEM Inquiry Experience unit (EUZ637).
“We focus on school-industry partnerships and STEM inquiries from industry contexts,” he said.
“Visiting a local industry – Substation33 – and taking part in a hands-on workshop on a STEM product on campus helped the teachers to gain authentic experiences of what school-industry partnerships may bring to STEM education.”
The QUT Graduate Certificate in STEM Education is offered by the university’s School of Teacher Education and Leadership, in the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice.
QUT Media contacts:
- Mechelle McMahon, media@qut.edu.au
- After hours, 0407 585 901 or media@qut.edu.au
