In 2005, he graduated from the Presbyterian College of Education, Akropong- Akuapim. He immediately began teaching after this but simultaneously sought to improve on himself within his chosen field. For this reason, he enrolled at the University of Cape Coast to earn a Diploma in Education and subsequently a Bachelor’s Degree in Education. Mr. Ayertey has been teaching for almost 15 years now.

His decision to be a STEM educator stems from the fact that he has always considered Science and Mathematics a priority. In his opinion, these two subjects are needed and should be prioritized in this jurisdiction, hence the reason why he has dedicated his career to STEM teaching for younger generations. His inspiration as a STEM education comes from the fact that he knows he holds some knowledge he can use to help others including his peers and his students and he never withholds this. James says his school’s Science and Mathematics results for the past BECE examination attest to the fact that his efforts are not in vain. For him, teaching STEM has broadened his scope of learning and impact as a teacher. He believes STEM helps in our daily lives particularly with solving problems, being creative and innovative in order to improve our society.

Mr. Ayertey believes JUNEOS Challenge is a great initiative providing positive assistance to schools, students and the Ghanaian learning community at large. He believes there’s more that can be done in terms of pushing the STEM agenda within Ghanaian schools, for instance the creation of science labs for effective practical lessons in future. In the near future, James wants to do even more to help his students gain practical STEM knowledge. Through this he believes he can contribute his quota to societal enlightenment. 

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Benjamin has been teaching for almost seven years and he is glad he chose teaching despite once having dreams of becoming an engineer. His inspiration to become a STEM educator and to deliver his best came when he first started teaching and realized that many of the students did not find STEM interesting. He developed interesting ways that would change the perspective of the students and get them interested in STEM. As expected, he is motivated to do more when his students decide to pursue further studies in STEM. 

Benjamin was introduced to the JUNEOS Challenge by the proprietor of Pax Pahosant International School, who felt the initiative would benefit both him and his students. Together with his students, they embarked on a Traffic Light project that he believes will do very well. 

When he assesses the impact of the challenge, Benjamin acknowledges that the JUNEOS Challenge has increased his students’ interest in STEM and he has observed that his students are more active and attentive in class. The subject has been “brought to life”  for them, and they want to give off their best performance — this might also be because they want to be selected for any STEM-related activity that might come up.

As an educator, Benjamin feels that he has benefited from the JUNEOS Challenge in many ways but most importantly, his interest in practical demonstrations in teaching STEM has been enhanced. He is also taking steps to join a STEM organization where he can meet other STEM educators, network and learn new ways of teaching. 

Benjamin would love to be a part of any future initiatives under the JUNEOS Challenge. He hopes the project can be extended to any schools that might be interested so that more people could be reached for a greater impact.

Benjamin likes educative entertainment and that is why the YOLO Series is his favorite TV show. He is also an avid reader and has admired the Wright brothers since reading about them in Class 5.

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Article by Elizabeth Johnson.

Elizabeth Johnson works as a researcher and project manager with Dr Monk and volunteers the rest of her time with the Writers Project of Ghana where she takes up various roles such as radio show production, social media management and administrator for their annual literary festival. She is a published writer who writes both fiction and non fiction and has won awards for her work.

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Even though Mr. Quayefio’s childhood dream was to become a pilot, he feels he has found his place in life as a teacher, and still sees himself in the education sector in the future. Interestingly, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, whom Enoch admires so much, was also a teacher at some point in his life. Perhaps, this has also added to the reasons why Enoch is so passionate about teaching.  

Mr. Enoch Nii Quayefio believes that including practical lessons in teaching is necessary if the students are to understand scientific concepts. This is a method that he uses in teaching STEM, and as expected, the parts that he likes best about teaching STEM are the experiments and practical demonstrations. For this reason, Mr. Quayefio is highly motivated by the joy he sees in his students upon their gaining knowledge and developing in their academic life. Mr. Quayefio has been teaching for about six years now and he has thirty-nine students. To him, being a STEM educator is very important in terms of bringing transformation to, and impacting the younger generation with positive knowledge for the future. 

Mr. Quayefio sees the JUNEOS Challenge as a platform for nurturing the skills of both students and teachers in STEM. He believes the challenge has influenced his teaching greatly. He now includes more practical work in his curriculum to teach his students. He says the JUNEOS Challenge is a good initiative that will help develop innovation in the country. 

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Kofi Dzogbewu is a Ghanaian storyteller. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English Language and Literature from the University of Ghana. He works with words in many forms including non-fiction, fiction, drama, and poetry. He is an alumnus of the Mo Issa Writing Workshops. You can find more of his works on his blog – www.kofidzogbewu.wordpress.com

The post Presenting GH4STEM 100 Top Teacher: ENOCH NII QUAYEFIO, (Denu- Volta Region) #GH4STEM appeared first on WeGo Innovate.

Like most teens, he went through a series of career options before he settled on a career in education. At one point, he wanted to be a Pilot and then doctor. However, due to financial constraints within his family he could not enrol into university and his Chemistry grade, which was a requirement, wasn’t so good. In that year, Sydney showed that he was determined to make it. He chose to apply to the Teacher training college and since then has never looked back. Today, he is more determined than ever to explore the field of STEM education even more . Currently, he is at the University of Cape Coast offering a sandwich course for secondary education.

Sydney and his students at the Efutu MA Basic School were happy to join the JUNEOS Challenge. They had learnt so many theories in class and the JUNEOS Challenge ensured that they researched and demonstrated the applications of these theories. Sydney, as a teacher, encouraged his students to be more research-conscious so they could excel in the challenge. He knows that there are many benefits of practical STEM and wants his students to gain as much as possible from a practical STEM education.

For Sydney, the best thing about STEM education is that ”it allows students to learn on their own through further research which builds their interest in finding and solving societal problems”.  Sydney’s motivation as a teacher comes from God, his family, his colleagues and his students in particular. His major aim is to help them be the best versions of themselves.

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Today, Mrs. Mensah is married and a mother of one, and has found her calling as a STEM educator while taking up further studies at the University of Education. She has been teaching for six years now and her love for the job keeps growing as the years go by. She teaches about one  hundred and eighty students at St. Monica’s girls JHS.

Mrs. Mensah saw the advert of the JUNEOS Challenge on Joy Prime TV. Not long after that, the headmistress of her school called her to talk about it and they made the decision to be a part of the challenge. With the idea of taking up a project that will make the world a better place, Mrs. Mensah and her students worked on a prototype to eliminate selected harmful chemicals that are released into the atmosphere due to industrialization.

In such a short time, she says, the challenge has had a huge impact on her and has exposed her to many things. A major take home message for her concerns practical education in STEM, its importance and how it helps students be more confident, careful and independent when studying or trying to solve a problem. She is confident that her students will do well when the results of the challenge came out but she is more happy with the long term effect the experience has had on her students.

Mrs. Mensah suggests that the JUNEOS Challenge should target more schools, especially  in remote areas where access to materials is low, as is exposure to practical work. Mrs. Mensah is also a member of GAST and ITEK Global, groups that she joined that help her learn new ways of teaching STEM. ITEK Global continues to have an impact on her life. It is also where she got exposed to more ways of teaching STEM.

In the next five to ten years, Mrs. Mensah hopes to be teaching Science at a higher level. She looks up to people like Kwame Nkrumah who continues to have a lasting effect on people and their society long after their existence. During her leisure time, she enjoys watching action movies and wrestling matches. 

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Article by Elizabeth Johnson.

Elizabeth Johnson works as a researcher and project manager with Dr Monk and volunteers the rest of her time with the Writers Project of Ghana where she takes up various roles such as radio show production, social media management and administrator for their annual literary festival. She is a published writer who writes both fiction and non fiction and has won awards for her work.

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Alexander had always wanted to study medicine but he could not meet the grade requirements for med school thus he chose to study another science course. He enrolled into the University of Cape Coast to study an education course. In retrospect, he knows this was never a mistake and was just a part of fulfilling his life’s purpose. In his opinion, STEM has really improved his cognitive reasoning and with this he has been able to impact his students’ understanding and passion for science. He believes that the knowledge they gain will help change their perception about science which will encourage them to pursue science to a higher level. 

For the JUNEOS Challenge, Alexander researched really well and picked a topic he knew his students would love: how submarines move underwater.  He believes the JUNEOS challenge has been helpful because it has exposed him to the idea of improvising with local materials in order to make his lessons as practical as possible. This way he can contribute to encouraging creativity and innovation within his students as well as help sharpen their cognitive reasoning. 

Mr. Bosoka enjoys watching the national science and maths quiz because he is passionate about science. He loves cooking, reading and researching. In 5-10 years, Alexander wants to move beyond just teaching by exploring other equally influential careers in the STEM field.

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As a child, Ebenezer always aspired to become an engineer because he admired people who worked with machines thus after Junior High School he opted to attend a technical school to study Mechanical Engineering and Craft Practices. During his years in technical school, he realized that if he truly wanted to be an engineer he would have to climb higher on the education ladder but his father faced some financial difficulty. It was during this time in technical school that he found his passion for teaching. In the third year of senior high school, he applied and wrote the required examinations to get into teacher training college, where he read mathematics.

Ebenezer reveals that his love for STEM and his students keep him  motivated as an educator. Technology rules the world and he knows there is a bright future in the world of STEM; thus he is only helping to prepare his students for this future. Ebenezer admits that one benefit he has gained as a STEM educator is the fact that it makes him think critically about his surroundings and for his students he knows the practical nature of STEM broadens their horizon and facilitates understanding. 

Ebenezer heard about the JUNEOS challenge through his coordinator at the Exploratory Club, a prominent STEM organization in Ghana. He did not hesitate to join because he deemed it as a great opportunity for his students. He states the inspiration behind their chosen experiment as:  “most government schools do not have access to laboratories so we decided to educate teachers on how to improvise a thermometer to be used in the teaching of some practical lessons”. He also admits that because of the JUNEOS challenge more students have joined the school’s science club and a lot more of them are eager to take up STEM at higher levels of education.

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Although he had the passion to teach STEM, Francis had to work extra hard to improve his skill in mathematics in order to get to where he is today. His challenges along the way to becoming a STEM educator keep motivating and inspiring him. Francis works to give his best to his students who in turn keep his desire strong with their success, interest and questions.

Mr. Munyuhitum has a greater interest in the practical aspects of STEM education and tries to infuse a lot of that into his teaching, which he believes the students enjoy. To gain more knowledge and ideas on new and innovative ways of teaching STEM, he became a member of the Mathematics  Teachers Association of Ghana where there is constant exchange of resources among members. 

Being a STEM educator has also made him a good researcher as he is always on the look-out for new ways to teach. He relies heavily on the Internet during research. He has also found meaning in encouraging and helping his female students so that they can feel competent to explore careers in STEM.

Soon after Francis found out about the JUNEOS Challenge, he introduced the concept to his students. By accepting the Challenge and going through the whole process, his students developed a new appreciation for STEM and now want to be a part of the JUNEOS Challenge again. His students used the JUNEOS Challenge as a way of exposing the hazards of using chemicals in growing vegetables. They created an indicator that can test acid or alkaline levels in vegetables. The competition helped his students relate everything they had learnt to everyday issues and also helped them develop a problem-solving attitude.

By using the Teaching and Learning Materials both he and his students have learnt more ways in using practical approaches to teach and learn.

Mr. Munyuhitum believes that the JUNEOS Challenge is an enlightening experience and should be introduced into more schools. He also advises that the educators be motivated as much as the students so that all parties put in their best.  

One important thing for Mr. Munyuhitum is to see more female students and women explore and thrive in STEM education and professions. He encourages the JUNEOS team to make it a point to focus on more female students and training of more female teachers as well.

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Article by Elizabeth Johnson.

Elizabeth Johnson works as a researcher and project manager with Dr Monk and volunteers the rest of her time with the Writers Project of Ghana where she takes up various roles such as radio show production, social media management and administrator for their annual literary festival. She is a published writer who writes both fiction and non fiction and has won awards for her work.

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Mrs. Pobi’s mother was a teacher who always encouraged her to study hard and take her science lessons seriously. After a few years of being indecisive on what career path to take, she was convinced by her mother that teacher training was the best for her. Today, she is more than happy that she took that advice and can’t imagine herself doing anything else.

For the past thirteen years, Priscilla has been teaching STEM at the Holy Trinity Presbyterian Model School where she teaches over two hundred students in different classes. In 2017, she was awarded a prize as 2^nd best science teacher in Ghana. In the next five years, she aspires to be teaching science at a higher level of education after doing further studies. Although a challenging profession, Mrs. Pobi embraces the challenges that come with being a teacher. The fact that she is able to impact so many lives that in turn impact the society is the highlight of her career. She also waits for the day when one of her students will become a celebrated inventor or scientist.

Mrs. Pobi believes that STEM is an important part of young people’s lives because it teaches them to learn things that they can use in every aspect of life. The practical nature of STEM makes things more realistic and enjoyable for students, and for teachers, easy to teach.

Finding out about the JUNEOS Challenge first through an advertisement on television, Mrs. Pobi was later introduced to the concept by the Regional Science Coordinator. She went on to show videos to her students and they opted to be a part of the exciting challenge. Priscilla was happy to have her students finally overcome their struggle with chromatography through the JUNEOS Challenge. Her students, who have developed more interest in science, look forward not only to participating in other editions of the challenge but also to their science lessons. 

Priscilla is a member of BSTEM and GAST and would love to join the JUNEOS Challenge not only as a teacher but to reach the level of training other teachers in STEM as well. She believes that the JUNEOS provides a platform to birth the next generation of inventors. Mrs. Pobi hopes that the initiative can be televised for other students and teachers to learn from. She also encourages schools and teachers to join the JUNEOS Challenge.

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Article by Elizabeth Johnson.

Elizabeth Johnson works as a researcher and project manager with Dr Monk and volunteers the rest of her time with the Writers Project of Ghana where she takes up various roles such as radio show production, social media management and administrator for their annual literary festival. She is a published writer who writes both fiction and non fiction and has won awards for her work. 

The post Meet GH4STEM 100 Top Teacher: PRISCILLA AWURAMA DARKWAH POBI, Koforidua #GH4STEM appeared first on WeGo Innovate.

When he isn’t teaching, he spends his time watching STEM-related programs, especially the National Science and Math Quiz. He also listens to Bernard Avle on Citi FM a lot as he considers him his favorite Ghanaian personality.

Enoch is a member of the Exploratory Club, an organization that seeks to make students appreciate STEM. Using textbooks and the internet, he continues to read and research on STEM to make his teaching more effective and enjoyable for his students. His biggest inspiration occurs when his students show what they have achieved from studying STEM.

After finding out about the JUNEOS challenge through the STEM club meeting, Enoch bought into the idea and started to prepare his students for the competition. The students were also very excited by the thought of participating in the Challenge. For Enoch, going through the Challenge has made him more practical in his teaching and has also stirred up interest in his students. 

The JUNEOS challenge also presented an opportunity for his students to see all the theory they had studied come to life, which was very exciting for them. The highlight for Enoch during the challenge was seeing his students interact with science in a more practical way, take charge of their experiment and enjoy the spotlight during filming.

Mr. Arthur would definitely like to join the Challenge again and gain more training as a STEM educator. He would love to have the JUNEOS initiative help establish science studios in the schools where materials would be available for practical use. He also feels the Challenge should be made more public and interactive so that students could learn from each other. 

One shortcoming of the Challenge was the fact that both teachers and students did not know how intense the program will become. Enoch thinks that it would be useful to have an idea about the details of the program ahead of time.

Enoch Don-Arthur believes that the JUNEOS Challenge is a great way to change the perception that teachers and students have about STEM, and also help diversify teaching methods.

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Article by Elizabeth Johnson.

Elizabeth Johnson works as a researcher and project manager with Dr Monk and volunteers the rest of her time with the Writers Project of Ghana where she takes up various roles such as radio show production, social media management and administrator for their annual literary festival. She is a published writer who writes both fiction and non fiction and has won awards for her work. 

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