With support from Tullow Oil and in collaboration with the Ghana Society for Education Technology, the African Science Academy held another session of the ASA Maths Masterclass in Cape Coast. The Masterclass -which took place on the 31st of March 2022-had 60 high school Mathematics teachers drawn from less privileged areas in the Central region, come together for a one day symposium to discuss and share their knowledge as well as come up with engaging techniques to teach Mathematics. 

The 60 Mathematics teachers were taken through a series of sessions including how to use and improve assessment in Mathematics education. Mr. Edward Mills, who is a facilitator of the Ghana Society for Education Technology from the University of Education, Winneba explained the types of assessments and the strategies used to achieve them. 

Assessment strategies refers to various tools and techniques that a teacher uses to evaluate their students. It is crucial to the learning process as it aids the teachers in finding out the strengths and weaknesses of their students and in doing so, know how best to help them improve. Some strategies used in assessing students include but are not limited to quizzes, asking students to summarize, response cards and asking the students to reflect on the lesson.

Mr Mills hammered on the fact that assessments should not be used as a tool to frighten students but rather to inform areas of improvement of teaching. This is because more often than not, students are filled with anxiety when it comes to assessing their performance-which ends up negatively affecting them. He went on to say that some students have abilities that are beyond comprehension hence teachers should find ways to appreciate those gifts. 

Some participants of the program reiterated this by saying that the teachers should not assume that the students do not know. They should be allowed to discover the concept of the lesson through the examples given. Sometimes, students may bring to light new perspectives that were previously not easily seen by the teachers beforehand. The discussion on assessment brought to the foreground the fact that one assessment strategy does not suit all students because every student is unique in their own way. 

The African Science Academy is the brainchild of the African Gifted Foundation. It is an all girls school for females all over Africa who are inclined towards STEM fields. The Maths Masterclass, which began in 2017 and has been held in 6 regions since then, hopes to positively impact the life of as many high school Mathematics students as possible and to become the leading name in the STEM educational sector in Ghana. 

Ghana Society for Education Technology (GSET) is a Ghanaian Education Technology non-profit membership organization dedicated to transforming education using technology.  GSET believes in a world where everyone can confidently use technology for imparting knowledge and enhancing education delivery. To support this vision, we partner with organizations and institutions such as the Ministry of Education and its agencies to design and deliver digital technology programs to meet the needs of school leaders and teachers in Ghana. GSET is currently leading the digitization of the Senior High School curriculum in partnership with Wikimedia Foundation and UNESCO International Bureau of Education.