Science in The Gambia is taught almost exclusively as a theoretical subject because the schools generally have no resources to buy equipment for practical lessons. Since PAGEANT was started we have taken a number of microscopes, that have been either bought or donated, to a few schools, colleges and a teaching hospital laboratory in The Gambia, as and when they have become available. Some very good results have been obtained, usually as entries to competitions for drawing things seen under the microscope. (See links below for more details) However, we have sometimes been concerned that not all teachers have fully understood how to get the most benefit from microscopes. Pageant's Microscopy Workshops are designed to pass on essential know-how, as well as supplying basic microscopy equipment to schools which do not yet have any.

We wish to increase the number of Gambian schools able to benefit from practical microscopy and to do so in a more structured manner. To achieve this we have been wanting to run workshops at which the school-teachers (most of whom have not used, or even seen, a microscope themselves) can learn how to use microscopes and to look after them properly – and then to teach their students, in a similar manner to the very successful Practical Science Workshops run by Joe Brock in February 2007. However, the cost of such an exercise is considerable and we have not been able to afford it from our general funds.

However, we have recently been awarded £3,000 by the Royal Microscopical Society (RMS) Vice President’s Fund, which has enabled us to start to set up these workshops for February 2010.

Three RMS Fellows (Peter Evennett, Kathy Groves and Pippa Howard) are heading the UK team running the workshops, assisted by two retired teachers and three other PAGEANT members – almost all of the cost of the flights and hotel expenses for the trip is being met by the participants themselves, leaving the bulk of the sponsorship money available for buying microscopes. The four schools at which the workshops will be run have been chosen so that they can each be host to teachers from ten schools in different regions within The Gambia, thus spreading the benefit as widely as possible. The host schools were selected during a visit to The Gambia in October 2009, following discussions with their head-teachers, all of whom were very enthusiastic about the idea.
 

simple monocular microscope	Trekker field microscope

Each of the 40 participating schools will be given a range of microscopical equipment bought with the fund and donations (the precise mix depending on the level of support from the suppliers and any further donations we may receive). This equipment will be available to the teachers during the workshop and will then be given to them to take back to their own schools. Many of the schools will not have access to electricity or other facilities that we take for granted, so the microscopes need to be simple, robust and easy to illuminate. Previous experience has shown that Gambian schools have found simple monocular or binocular ‘stereo’ microscopes and Trekker field microscopes to be the most useful.

Printed notes on the operation, applications and care of the microscopes will be supplied to each teacher as well as a certificate of attendance at the workshop. As well as the microscopes etc, it will be necessary to pay every visiting teacher a sum to cover travelling expenses and also each host school an allowance for feeding the visiting teachers and UK team.

Thanks to suppliers and others

Pageant would like to thank:

• GT Vision for a very good discount on 40 Trekkers needed for the workshops.

• Edulab for the discount they have given us on the student microscopes,

• Northern Geological Supplies for discounting the prices of a selection of magnifiers and mag. boxes – every discount means that we can take more equipment to the schools,

• Timstar for discounting the cost of 40 slide boxes.

• Thomas Cook at Gatwick for an extraordinarily generous contribution in the way of additional free baggage allowance for our group to take all the kit out.

Help Pageant to run Microscopy Workshops

PAGEANT could not fund such a large scale event as this without financial assistance - the money from the RMS Vice President’s Award means that for the first time a good-sized group of Gambian teachers can get some really useful instruction in light microscopy, some proper equipment to use in the classroom and suggestions for applications and samples.

The impact of this project, run for a reasonably large number of Gambian schools spread over a wide area, will be immense. If each teacher interfaces with just 200 pupils we will have introduced practical microscopy to 8,000 children in The Gambia.

So, we owe a big vote of thanks to the RMS for this award – we could not run the workshops without it.
We really need more funds to increase what we can give to the schools, so if you would like to make a donation towards equipment for these workshops, please send a cheque to Pippa Howard, Old School, Worthing Road, Southwater, Horsham, West Sussex RH13 9DT, UK. Please write 'WORKSHOPS' on the back of the cheque. Also if you are a UK taxpayer, please send us a GiftAid form to allow us to reclaim UK Tax.

Form	Web Page	PDF format
Gift Aid form - an extra 28% from the taxman	click here	click here
Download Adobe Reader to read PDF files

You can also donate online using your credit or debit card – see below.
 

Click the 'Donate' button to make a donation to Pageant's Microscopy Workshops. This takes you to a Virgin Money Giving page, where you should click on 'Donate now'. Donations will be kept separate and used only for these workshops.

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