WeGo Innovate is pleased to announce that the GH4STEM JUNEOS Challenge has been selected as one of nine innovations at the call for UN STI Forum 2021. The UN STI Forum is an annual Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals. The STI Forum is a discussion and networking platform for different actors in the field of science, technology and innovation to address technology needs and gaps, scientific cooperation, innovation and capacity building in order to enhance development.

The GH4STEM JUNEOS Challenge is a practical STEM TV Series that features Junior High School students (65% girls) across Ghana who bring STEM theories to life using materials from the local environment.

The GH4STEM JUNEOS Challenge was successful due to the support and dedication of our collaborators. Well, they say it takes a village to raise a child and indeed our little but mighty village did raise a child for the world to recognise.

We would like to show our utmost appreciation to our partners GHScientific, Ghana Association of Science Teachers (GAST) and regional chairs of GAST, The Exploratory, Ghana Stem Network and the WeGo Innovate team.

To our judges, Mr. Sam Agudogo, Madam Berthy Buah and Dr. Thomas Tagoe, from the bottom of our hearts we say Thank you! To our annotators, Robert Nii Ayi Aryee, Eunice Nyarko, Saviour Okine, Michael Okyere and Simon Odonkor, we are appreciative of your efforts!

Thank you to our supporting partners like the Ghana Education Service (GES), Futures for Kids, Ghana Society for Education Technology (GSET), West African Centre for Cell Biology and Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP), BloggingGhana, mfidie.com, Writers Project of Ghana, Next Einstein Forum, Bar Camp Ghana and the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) for your assistance.

We would like to say a huge thank you to Naa Ashorkor Mensah-Doku for literally lending her voice and support for the show. Also to our celebrities and friends in the media including Serwaa Amihere, Regina Van-Helvert, Kojo Yankson, Aj Sarpong, James Gardiner, John Dumelo, Francis Abban and Daniel Dadzie, you all really did bring your ‘A’ game!

To our partner media houses TV3, GNTV Junior, Dominion TV, Hope Channel Ghana, Joy Prime and Joy Learning you took the Juneos Challenge into different homes and made it possible for students all over! Thank you!

To every individual or group that supported us financially by donating on our GoFundMe Platform, Thank you so much! 

Most importantly, our gratitude goes to every student and teacher that participated and carried out their experiments! Also, to the entire education ecosystem and to our viewers across Ghana and the world we are grateful!

THANK YOU for making the GH4STEM JUNEOS CHALLENGE a success!!!

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Here is a little history, Pandemic derived from the Greek word ‘pan‘ which means ‘all’ and ‘demos‘ which mean ‘common people’. Thus all people. So any disease that affects ‘all people’ in other words a large group of people, is referred to as a pandemic. How do we use this word in a sentence?

1. In order to protect ourselves during the covid-19 pandemic we need to wash our hands regularly and wear masks too.

2. My grandfather lived through the Cholera pandemic in 1918.

In order to protect ourselves we need to keep washing our hands, wearing masks, social distancing and isolating when we get sick too. I hope you are taking these measures seriously.

I have a little assignment for you this week. Find out the difference between a pandemic, an endemic and an epidemic. Keep wearing your masks and do some social distancing. I will wait for your responses in the comment section!

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The earliest record of its use is from the 1500s. The word has origins from the Middle French word hostilite and Latin words hostililtatem/hostilatas/hostilitis and hostis which means enemy, stranger or foreigner.

 So anyone who shows you through their actions or their words that they don’t like you by being rude or making you feel unwelcome, we can say that they are hostile or are being hostile to you. This is how you can used it in a sentence;

1. The headmistress has a very hostile attitude towards me

2. Kwaku was very hostile to my idea of going to a nightclub

3. The soldiers became very careful when they entered hostile territory will be waiting to hear how you used this word within the week. A quick assignment too. Find out the meaning of a hostile takeover. Tell me about that too. I will be waiting for your replies in the comment section. All the best!

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The history of the word will give you more information. This is a relatively young word. It is made up of the combinations of physio which means ‘phyical‘ or ‘nature’ and therapy from Modern Latin therapia, from Greek therapeia which means “curing, healing, service done to the sick’ and ist which usually means ‘a person who practices something’. Thus ‘one who cures physically’. So you find ‘therapy‘ and ‘ist‘ in words like Chemist, dentist, psychotherapist, chemotherapist, and radiotherapist and so on (I will leave you to find their various meanings).

So if you have a grandma who has arthritis and goes to the hospital, one of her doctors is most likely going to be a physiotherapist. Does this profession interest you? If yes, tell me in the comments, if you answer is No, tell me about what you want to be in the future. I will be waiting!

Stay tuned by following us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (@wegoinnovate), Subscribe to our Youtube Channel and be informed!

Article by Kofi Konadu Berko.Kofi Konadu Berko is passionate about education and youth development. He holds a B.A in Adult Education and Human Resource Studies from the University Of Ghana. His works have been  published in the historic Afroyoung Adult anthology titled Waterbirds On the Lakeshore, Adabraka: Stories From the Center Of the World, Tampered Press and the Kalahari Review. He blogs at obolokofi.wordpress.com

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In the spirit of Independence day and all things History, let’s find out three historical facts about education in Ghana.

FACT #1: Did you know that before the European settlers arrived in the Gold Coast education among Gold Coasters was very much informal?

The ‘first school’ for every child was the home. Then when he/she was of a certain age they were moved into apprenticeship. Knowledge was passed down orally from a master of the craft to an apprentice or learner. For example, among the Gas, it was common for a father to choose what trade his son should be taught. Then the father would find a person engaged in this trade, they would agree on rules and the day his son would begin working. This form of informal education happened in various trades like fishing, farming and smith’s work. Later, in the 1850s with increased presence of European factories across the West African region many more apprentices opted to be carpenters, coopers, bricklayers, masons, washermen and stone plasterers.

FACT #2: Did you know the first formal Ghanaian elementary school in Ghana was the Philip Quaque School in Cape Coast?

Philip Quaque, was a native of the Gold Coast, who received his education in England from just when he was 13 years old. He was also the first African to be ordained as a clergyman by the Church of England. He returned to the Gold Coast after graduation and started his own school, in 1765, in his house in Cape Coast initially to train ‘mulatto’ children of both sexes. Later the school began to take children of African descent and much later became a boys’ school. 

FACT #3: 

During the post-independence era, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s government  initiated the 1961 Act, (Act 87) that made Education compulsory and free for every child at the school-going age of 6 years. Parents were not to pay for any costs except for required books or stationary. Under this system, students went  to primary school for six years, then spent four years in secondary school and then a two-year sixth form course. They would  top that off with a 3-year university education or a two-year pre-vocational class!

What historical facts do you know too? Share with us in the comments!

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Baby, kaa fo                                           Baby, don’t cry,
Mgbe o mami e te?                                Where has your mother gone?
E te lai                                                    She’s gone to the farm.
Mini e shi ha bo                                    What did she leave for you?
E shi mi akpakpa                                   She left me a pawpaw.

This song she sang to you and others like it are called lullabies (plural of lullaby) I think you can define a lullaby by yourself now. It is a ‘calming song that is sung to babies to help them sleep’. It is from the words ‘lullen’ – lull which means ‘to calm or to hush to sleep’ and ‘by’ which means by near or goodbye. Some Hebrew folks have also claimed that it is from the expression ‘Lilith abi’ which means ”Lilith be gone!” Lilith was a demon who harmed children so those songs would keep her away from the babies. So Lilith abi – Lulla+by. So cool and scary!

So next time you see a woman singing a song to a baby, tell her she is singing a lullaby. Here’s the rest of the lullaby up there:

Ha mi eko ma ye                                   Give me some to eat.
Inha bo fai!                                           I won’t give you a thing!
Kε o mami ba, ma kεε lε                      When your mother comes back, I’ll tell her.
Kε o papa ba, ma kεε lε                       When your father comes back, I’ll tell him.
Yaa yaa wushi-o!                                 Yaa yaa wushi-o!*
Yaa yaa wushi-o!                                 Yaa yaa wushi-o!

If you know any other lullabies tell me about them in the comment section. See you next week!

Stay tuned by following us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (@wegoinnovate), Subscribe to our Youtube Channel and be informed!

Article by Kofi Konadu Berko.

Kofi Konadu Berko is passionate about education and youth development. He holds a B.A in Adult Education and Human Resource Studies from the University Of Ghana. His works have been  published in the historic Afroyoung Adult anthology titled Waterbirds On the Lakeshore, Adabraka: Stories From the Center Of the World, Tampered Press and the Kalahari Review. He blogs at obolokofi.wordpress.com

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Education is the process of learning geared or directed towards assisting individuals to acquire knowledge skills and attitude to help them improve their lives. This definition is from one of your textbook. I am sure you know which one.

Education is from the Latin word educatus or educare which means to bring up or rear both mentally and physically. It’s made up of the word ex which means out, duc which means to lead and tion which makes it a noun. So put together education means to  lead one out or to bring them up or rear them. Here are examples of how you can used education in a sentence;

1. ‘Education is the key to success’

 2. I believe that every Ghanaian has the right to education

I have a few questions for you;  Which level of education are you in? Are you enjoying your education? What is your favourite subject? What do you think are the benefits of being educated? I will be waiting for your answers in the comments. See you next week!

Stay tuned by following us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (@wegoinnovate), Subscribe to our Youtube Channel and be informed!

Article by Kofi Konadu Berko.

Kofi Konadu Berko is passionate about education and youth development. He holds a B.A in Adult Education and Human Resource Studies from the University Of Ghana. His works have been  published in the historic Afroyoung Adult anthology titled Waterbirds On the Lakeshore, Adabraka: Stories From the Center Of the World, Tampered Press and the Kalahari Review. He blogs at obolokofi.wordpress.com

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The word comes from the Latin word ‘concurre‘ which means ‘to run together’. Over the years it came to mean ‘ to happen at the same time.’ By the 1880s, it had evolved to have its present day meaning ‘to agree or to be in accord’

For instance; You and your friends make a decision to go out on Saturday to the Accra mall but one friend says ” According to the President, we should stay home if what we are going to do is not really important.” The other friend says “Yes. I think we should just stay home. The other replies ” Yes, it’s safe that way. We can still play video games.” So they ask you. “What do you think? ” To show that you agree with them, you can respond ” I concur‘  

Use this word this week. And let me know how it went. I will be waiting!

Stay tuned by following us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (@wegoinnovate), Subscribe to our Youtube Channel and be informed!

Article by Kofi Konadu Berko.Kofi Konadu Berko is passionate about education and youth development. He holds a B.A in Adult Education and Human Resource Studies from the University Of Ghana. His works have been  published in the historic Afroyoung Adult anthology titled Waterbirds On the Lakeshore, Adabraka: Stories From the Center Of the World, Tampered Press and the Kalahari Review. He blogs at obolokofi.wordpress.com

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 You remember ambi from the word ambidextrous right? So I guess you have half the meaning of this word. Ambiguous is an adjective. It means doubtful or of uncertain nature. It also means having more than one possible meaning.

It is derived from the Latin words ‘ambi‘ which means both and ‘agere‘ which means to drive and ous which means ‘possessing the quality ‘So we have ‘possessing the quality of both driving’.  So imagine two drivers driving one car. It’s going to be one wobbly ride. They would never reach their destination. That is what ‘ambiguous‘ means. When you make a statement that can mean more than one thing we say it is ambiguous. In that, it might mean different things to different people and in the end it will cause confusion. Over time, ‘Ambigere‘ came to mean wander about, waver, to be in doubt.

An example of an ambiguous sentence is: The Chicken is ready to eat. Does it mean chicken has been prepared or that the animal Chicken is ready to have its meal? It’s unclear. So it’s ambiguous!

So next time someone tells you something that can have 2 different meanings tell the person. “What you are saying is very ambiguous. Could you clarify what you mean?

Enjoy your week. Let me know how you used ambiguous! I will be waiting in the comments!

Stay tuned by following us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (@wegoinnovate), Subscribe to our Youtube Channel and be informed!

Article by Kofi Konadu Berko.Kofi Konadu Berko is passionate about education and youth development. He holds a B.A in Adult Education and Human Resource Studies from the University Of Ghana. His works have been  published in the historic Afroyoung Adult anthology titled Waterbirds On the Lakeshore, Adabraka: Stories From the Center Of the World, Tampered Press and the Kalahari Review. He blogs at obolokofi.wordpress.com

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I am sure you’ve heard the word a lot of times as we draw close to elections in Ghana. Let us see where the word comes from. It originates from the word ‘fraunchise’ which emerged in the 1300s.This word stood for “a special right or privilege (by grant of a sovereign or government) or the collective rights claimed by a people or town or religious institution’.

In the sentences below note how the word is used in a sentence.

1. African Americans were denied the right to exercise their franchise for a long time.

2. We must all exercise our franchise today to choose the right president to lead the country

3. The franchise for the elections is limited to Ghanaian nationals.

I hope you are paying attention to the news and educating yourself on the political happenings in the country. Most importantly, I hope you are still learning and improving your vocabulary. I want you to leave a word used in politics that you have heard in the comments. Kindly add the meaning too. I will be waiting!

Stay tuned by following us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (@wegoinnovate), Subscribe to our Youtube Channel and be informed!

Article by Kofi Konadu Berko.

Kofi Konadu Berko is passionate about education and youth development. He holds a B.A in Adult Education and Human Resource Studies from the University Of Ghana. His works have been  published in the historic Afroyoung Adult anthology titled Waterbirds On the Lakeshore, Adabraka: Stories From the Center Of the World, Tampered Press and the Kalahari Review. He blogs at obolokofi.wordpress.com 

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