Teacher Sharon Asiimwe's Experience
Sharon is a Physics Teacher at Kalinabiri Secondary School Kampala District
Growing up in a rural village in Kabale district, I was fascinated by the workings of the natural world. I spent hours exploring the surrounding hills, observing the movement of the stars during evenings, and wondered how things worked. My curiosity led me to love and pursue sciences in school.
Genesis
I remember my first science experiment at Boma Primary School, Mbarara. It was about making a homemade volcano using baking soda and vinegar. The eruption sparked something within me; I knew I wanted to delve deeper into the world of science.
In my lower secondary, we got an opportunity to interact with a teacher from Germany (Mr.Grainer)who taught us Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Geography and his classes were the most enjoyable because they were interactive and learner-centered. He always started with a video to get our attention but also to keep us focused on the topic of the day. He had no notes to give the learners but rather engaged us in discussions which made us want more and urged us to research using library materials available that time.
In secondary school to be exact at Bishop Kivengere Girls School, Muyebe, I excelled in Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. Bravo to my teachers of science especially Mr Grainer and Mr. Beza Eric for the work they did in me under the supervision and headship of the late Mr Turimumahoro Jason. I later joined the famous Bweranyangi Girls School for advanced level where I excelled in my Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and submaths combination. My teachers encouraged me to pursue a career in science education.
Despite my success in passing science at the primary and secondary levels, my journey was far from easy in fact it was tough as a young girl. The huge volumes of notes we had to take, particularly in Biology, was overwhelming. We spent countless hours day and night cramming complex concepts into our heads, only to retrieve them during exams. Unfortunately, this approach led many of my classmates to lose interest in science, perceiving it as a hard subject while creating a thinking among themselves that sciences was only for a selected few.
I later enrolled at Kyambogo University and now I hold a masters in Education Policy, planning and management and have done other courses on moon over us as an astronomer and astrophysicist enthusiast and now pursuing another course in Astronomy which is the Physics of space. From our research and search for the asteroids in space, we managed to find one asteroid which was named after us, the group of five educators from Uganda.
So I take this opportunity to thank National Curriculum for Development Center (NCDC) for the opportunity and facilitation and the entire team towards that success. Meanwhile after graduating from Kyambogo University, I landed my dream job as a Physics teacher at a public school in Kampala. That was over 10 years ago.
Bridging the Gap with Laboratory Instruction Manuals (LIM)
Teaching Physics to learners from diverse backgrounds has been incredibly rewarding. I have seen learners transform from curious minds to confident problem-solvers.
My approach is hands-on, using locally available materials to demonstrate complex concepts. I want to take this opportunity to thank Science Teaching and Innovations Africa (STIA) for coming to my rescue with the help of the Laboratory Instructional Manual (LIM) which has greatly changed my approach to teaching Physics and the interaction with the O’Level Competence Based Secondary Science Kit materials has greatly made me an effective and competent teacher of Physics .
One memorable moment was when my learners Hakeem and Qudra designed and built a speech to text machine to aid communication among the deaf and blind communities and we were recognized at a function held at Galaxy International School in Kampala, and Khaukas group of students built a solar-powered water purification system for a nearby village, Clevers group built up rescue helmet with inbuilt oxygen production component for traveller’s on baot after the boat cruise incident on lake Victoria where people died not because they didn’t know how to swim but lacked oxygen. Seeing their innovative solutions improve lives was truly fulfilling.
Transformation
By using the use of Laboratory Instruction Manuals and support training from Science Teaching and Innovations Africa (STIA), I transformed from being a theoretical learning graduate to a hands-on and parctical Physics teacher. My lessons are practical guided by activities from LIM, enjoyable, interesting, and learners master Physics concepts through engaging experiments and explorations.
Appreciation
In conjuction with fellow teachers countrywide, I would like to Maam, and Minister of Education and Sports, Hon. Janet Kataaha Museveni for providing us with Laboratory Instruction Manuals that are helping us to teach sciences practically beginning from senior one.
