Sep 9

AIMS TTP begins the 2019-2020 training year in grand-style.

The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Teacher Training Program in partnership with Mastercard foundation, is currently in its 5thacademic year of implementation and has trained 707 in-service teachers out of a targeted 1,920 in-service teachers and impacted over 102031 students out of a targeted 2 million students to increase the transition rates between educational levels in science and mathematics — especially for girls in order to be independent thinkers, problem solvers and innovators capable of propelling Cameroon’s and Africa’s future scientific, educational and economic self-sufficiency.

It is in this light that the Teacher Training Program in partnership with Mastercard foundation in order to increase the pipeline of students studying STEM, has continued with its training workshops, with several important ones held in the month of August.

Master Trainer Refresher

The first of these training workshops was the Master Trainer Refresher training that held on August 7-9 and 16-17, 2019 in Yaoundé with 48Master Trainers and Maroua with 09 Master Trainers, respectively, in presentia. The purpose was to improve the quality of training and define roles and responsibilities concerning TTP’s new strategies. After this training, Master Trainers are expected to efficiently and effectively facilitate an entire workshop, and to create linkages and coherent flow between sessions that are expressly tied to the overall workshop objectives.

Resource Developer Training

The second of the training workshops was that of Resource Developers held on August 12 and will continue until October 2019 at the TTP Center/Lab in Yaoundé. The purpose of this training is to provide professional training to build the capacity of a team of Master Trainers, Secondary School Mathematics Teachers, and TTP Staff to enable them produce resources that must be converted to online content to be uploaded to the eLearning and Community of Practice (CoP) platforms. Present were 25 (20 males, 05 females) 15 Teachers, 7 Master Trainers and 3 TTP Staff.

Online Course Moderator Training

Due to the strategic shift of the Pre-workshop learning from face-to-face training to online training, and the growing trend of the incorporation of ICT in education, TTP continues to train Master Trainers to become Moderators for all its online courses.  The most recent training event was held in Maroua from 17-18 August, 2019.  As Moderators, the Master Trainers will play a major role in providing a positive online experience to the teachings taking the online courses, while ensuring a seamless experience in related activities on both the eLearning and COP platforms. 9 new moderators emerged from this training.

ICT Basic Skills Training

Over the course of training in-service teachers, it was perceived that approximately 30 % of the Mathematics teachers did not possess a functional grasp of ICT, which is a primordial skill as a mathematics teacher in the 21stcentury.

From August 14-16 and 28-30, 2019 in the TTP Lab in Yaoundé, AIMS-Cameroon Alumni, under the supervision of the TTP ICT Coordinator, Georges Niatchak and ICT Officer, Anjy Vanessa, trained the first two cohorts of in-service teachers with basic skills in ICT. Trained in Computer architecture, operating System WINDOWS/LINUX(UBUNTU), Word processing, Spreadsheets, Internet and examples of Learning Management System, and PowerPoint Presentations, these 40 teachers (40 Male and 0 female teachers) in and around the Centre Region received the knowledge and skills necessary to be able to follow courses on the eLearning platform, participate on the online Community of Practice, TTP training events, appropriately use the TTP online resources, and better incorporate ICT into the learning and teaching of mathematics.

Though majority of the teachers who were chosen for the first 2 sessions had an advanced knowledge in ICT, they however learned something new and were grateful for the training.

In-Service Teacher Training

Held in Lycée Classique Moderne, Maroua, the AIMS-TTP trained its first cohort for the 2019-2020 academic year, its 3rdcohort in the Far North Region and the 16thcohort of in-service teachers. This training took place from August 19-24 2019 in Maroua. The teachers were equipped with knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to be effective teachers in preparing and delivering participatory, engaging, interactive, innovative, and gender sensitive, inclusive Mathematics lessons. Just like every student is evaluated based on what they have learned, so were the teachers evaluated at the end of the training workshop. This will be replicated for the rest of the training workshops. With all they gained during these six days of training, these 56in-service teachers (55 males, 01 female) trained in:

  • Leadership and Responsibility.
  • Planning of Pedagogic Activities.
  • Teaching and Learning Mathematics
  • Mathematical Thinking and Problem Solving.
  • Professional Insertion (Community of Practice for Mathematics teachers) are expected to implement TTP methodologies, reinforce abilities to create student-centered, activity-based lessons in a positive, gender-sensitive and inclusive learning environment.

 Regional Focal Point Coordination Meeting

Mr. Jean-Pierre Adjaba, the Inspector Coordinator General in charge of the Sciences and AIMS-TTP Focal Point at the Ministry of Secondary Education (MINESEC), organized a meeting geared at strategically planning program methodologies and building awareness concerning the roles and responsibilities outlined in the improved TTP program strategies that will be implemented jointly as part of the successful and ongoing partnership between TTP and MINESEC. In attendance were 10 Regional Inspectors Coordinators, newly designated as TTP Regional Focal Points, and some other representatives of MINESEC. This meeting will improve the quality of many of the TTP activities:

  1. Pre-Workshop Learning
  2. Follow-Up activities (implementation of TTP methods)
  3. Lesson Study
  4. Cross-Training and professional development
  5. ICT basic skills

 

These training workshops are a reconfirmation of the AIMS-NEI mission to propel Africa’s brightest students to the ultimate potential by giving them top notch training in mathematics. We believe that equipping mathematics teachers with the appropriate tools will fine-tune their pedagogy, thus making more students interested in mathematics at an early stage, thus grooming them into the much-needed problem-solvers of our continent.