As someone who is passionate about education for Global Citizenship you might not instinctively think of science as a subject which would really help engage your pupils with global issues. ..but you would be missing a trick! For many people around the world it is science and technology that lifts them out of poverty for good.
We believe in technology justice, that is the belief that everyone has the right to choose and use the technology they need to lead a life they value, providing it is sustainable.Julie Brown, Practical Action
Practical Action
Practical Action is an international development charity with a focus on providing people living in poverty with access to science and technology. We believe in technology justice, that is the belief that everyone has the right to choose and use the technology they need to lead a life they value, providing it is sustainable. Our work around the world illustrates technology justice in action. Our school materials use examples from our projects, to provide a global context through which students can learn the scientific principles and skills required by the curriculum, while also learning about some of the challenges and solutions faced by people in the Global South.
Practical Science
Let’s look at Nepal for example. Farmers live halfway up the mountain side, but they need to get their tomatoes to the market below. Due to climate change the rainy season is heavier and lasts longer, meaning the paths they used to use are really dangerous. The solution? A simple gravity ropeway. In a few minutes tomatoes can be transported in a wire basket down the mountain side. This simple bit of science transforms the lives of the farmers and their families. To pupils this provides a great example of ‘forces’ in action and of changes in the state of energy.
In Bangladesh, Practical Action is passing on indigenous knowledge by showing farmers how to make ‘floating gardens’ out of bamboo, water hyacinth and cow dung on which they grow their crops. This means that when land is flooded due to heavy rainfall, the crops are protected. For pupils this is a chance to learn about the buoyancy of different materials and shapes and what plants need to grow.
Technology Justice
However the learning goes far beyond merely providing a global context for science, it invites pupils to consider the concept of technology justice.
The technologies needed to feed the world and ensure everyone has access to basic services for a reasonable quality of life largely already exist. It is how these technologies, or the rights to access them, are distributed that needs to change. This means moving from a state of technology injustice to a state of technology justice; to find a way to remove the barriers that prevent poor people from using the technologies they need for the most basic services.
Pupils can explore the concept of technology justice through initially rating their own technology needs and wants (hair straighteners or a cooker?) and then comparing them to someone living in poverty in Kenya. They can also rate different technologies through a top trumps style game and, if they want, go on to take the challenge of living without technology for a day. www.practicalaction.org/technologyjustice
STEM challenges
These projects and others lie behind a series of STEM challenges we have produced for pupils aged 7-14, which allow them to use their science skills and knowledge to solve a problem faced by people in the Global South. This could be how to get tomatoes down a mountain side (without squashing them) or, in our latest BEAT the Flood challenge, how to build their own flood-proof house. In each challenge pupils work as a team to design, build and test their ideas. Expect sighs of dismay or cheers of delight when their flood-proof house is blasted with a hose pipe! Pupils then look at the actual solutions used in the developing world and see how their designs and models compare.
The science behind each of the challenges is robust, with pupils testing materials for different properties before making informed decisions on which to use.
‘We did a practical test on the absorbency of different materials and how to compare them. We chose steel because it was fully waterproof and bamboo because it was available on the island’ Pupil aged 13
Interdisciplinary Learning
Sandlings Primary
The interdisciplinary learning potential of these challenges has encouraged science, technology and other departments in secondary schools to work together, helping pupils see how the different disciplines are linked in real life. As well as being suitable for science lessons they are often used as the focus on a collapsed curriculum day or in after school clubs.
‘Today has been amazing. I really didn’t know that when you see people in the third world off the TV they rely on scientist and engineers to them them…I thought engineering was complicate d but it can actually be quite simple ideas that help others. I really want to do this when I am older’ Tom, age 7 Sandlings Primary school
It’s not always easy to see where the opportunities for global learning lie within the science curriculum, so we have produced a document which links opportunities for global learning, along with specific resources, to help deliver the Scottish science Curriculum. www.practicalaction.org/globallearninginsciencescotland
For all the activities mentioned in the article and many more visit www.practicalaction.org
