Little Shop of Physics in Namibia
The College of Natural Sciences Little Shop of Physics team returned to Namibia as hosts of B2Gold Namibia’s CSR efforts in January, 2020. This was the third visit in four years, but in some sense, the program has never left. The B2Gold-funded effort of the science educators in Namibia to help teachers better engage and prepare their students goes by the name of Little Shop of Physics, and uses the techniques shared on past visits.
On this trip, our focus was on working with teachers from around the country. Teachers applied to be part of an extensive workshop with the Little Shop team, and competition was intense—only 36 teachers of the 400+ applicants were selected. The Little Shop team spent 5 days of training on the teaching of topics ranging from motion to magnetism, and left each teacher with a full slate of supplies for instructing their own students.
B2Gold has worked hard to connect with local education authorities and people from the Ministry of Education, and helped the Little Shop team make sure that the workshop covered topics and techniques that matched the national curriculum.
The connection will continue, of course. Plans are being made to bring Namibian teachers to Colorado State, and the Little Shop team will be back to Namibia in a year or two. We look forward to the continued partnership among the College of Natural Sciences Little Shop team, B2Gold Namibia, and the teachers of Namibia!
