Werabe university

Community service directorate

A Project Proposal on developing a movable chemistry laboratory for High School

in Siltie Zone

By: Misgana Negera (MSc in Analytical chemistry)

Haregot Tesfau (MSc in Analytical chemistry)
Tolesa Tesfaye (MSc in Physical chemistry)
Faris Hamdala (MSc in Statistics)

June 2022

Werabe, Ethiopia

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Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Statement of the problem.......................................................................................................7
1.2 Objective.............................................................................................................................8
2. Procedure..................................................................................................................................10
2.1 Methodology........................................................................................................................10
2.2 Materials and chemicals.......................................................................................................10
2.3 Experiments.........................................................................................................................11
2.4 Work plan...........................................................................................................................12
3 Budget break down.....................................................................................................................12
4 Ethics..........................................................................................................................................14
5. Beneficiaries..............................................................................................................................14
6. Gender and Environmental Perspective.....................................................................................14

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1. Introduction
Science is the careful study of structure and behavior of the physical world, especially by
watching, measuring and doing experiments and the development of theories to describe the
result of these activities. Sciences are particular areas of biology, chemistry and physics [1].
Today in addition with technology, science recognized as an important tool for fostering and
strengthening the economic and social development of the country. In other word scientific
results are linked to the development of new products and new technologies, and contribute
greatly to economic and medical progress, and to other social and economic activities. In order
for science to contribute firmly to economy and people also thrust on science program, it is
important to promote research and new developments and motivate talented students to take up
science as their career. Furthermore, it is important to provide avenues and opportunities for
those students engaged in science field to update and enhance their knowledge and skills,
devising strategies to retain the best talents in active scientific work and involve the corporate
sector in science education.

In Ethiopian education system recognition is given to physical sciences as it has great role in the
development of the individual and the nation. That is why these subjects are considered as core
subjects among the natural sciences and other science related courses. The inclusion of Biology,
chemistry and physics as core subjects in science in the secondary and preparatory school calls
for the need to teach them effectively. Furthermore, like any other developing country, Ethiopia
needs rapid improvement of science education and appears to have been prepared to resolve
issues of development in science and technology through its education and training policy. To
make this practical, the policy provides for a 70:30 admission ratio in tertiary institutions in favor
of science and technology by Ethiopian Ministry of Education [2].

A program of intervention called STEM (Science, Engineering and Mathematics) has been also
introduced to secondary and preparatory schools for reinforcing education of Science and
Technology [3]. Moreover, the government has established the Centre for Strengthening
Mathematics and Science Education in Ethiopia (CSMASEE) under the federal MoE, which is
responsible for science and mathematics education across the sector [4].

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 However, when it comes to the implementation Ethiopian education process faced to many
challenges in Ethiopian schools. That is why learning outcomes of secondary and preparatory
school students are poor in spite of all these efforts to improve quality. The main challenges
include problems associated with attitude, methods, teachers’ capacity and resources. Today
students were not interested, not accepted scientific thoughts as a way of life, do not enjoy
science, but develop interest to pursuing a career in science and did not manifest favorable
attitudes toward science in Ethiopia. Even they not choose science as their favorite field of study
when they come to university. But the truth is motivation has been found to be a key process or
mechanism for enhancing student learning outcomes in science and engineering. In Ethiopia
especially around rural areas of the country, a system of learning from textbooks and carried out
in large classes is common. Thus, students were not involved in learning science by their own
sake and a belief in their own abilities, but they belief in the value of the task and they have an
uncomfortable feeling of nervousness or worry about exams. Science teaching is successful,
when students, as active participants and not passive recipients, have the desire to learn,
understand the significance of what they are learning, and are motivated to further intellectual
growth after their formal education ends [5].

Even though facts in science have great importance they are meaningful only to those who are
motivated to study it by their own curiosity. We believe and acknowledge that good quality
practical work promotes the engagement and interest of students as well as developing a range of
skills, science knowledge and conceptual understanding. Given that the subject matter of science
is the material world, it seems natural, and rather obvious, that learning science should involve
seeing, handling and manipulating real objects and materials, and that teaching science will
involve acts of ‘showing’ as well. Students do remember observable aspects of practical tasks,
often many months or even years later, particularly when the event is a striking one (such as
seeing a piece of sodium put into water, or three projected beams of red, green and blue light
overlapping on a screen to produce a white area). Even so, many practical tasks of this type
might be made more effective by designing them to stimulate the students’ thinking before they
make any observations. For example, rather than simply recording the speed of a falling object
after dropping different distances, students might be asked: ‘does a falling object quickly reach a
steady speed and then fall at that speed, or does it keeping speeding up during its fall?’ Whilst

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exploring the effect of forces on motion, students might be asked: ‘when you kick a ball along
the ground, does it continue to speed up for a while after it leaves contact with your foot?’ A
teacher with whom I have recently worked stimulated animated discussion in one of her classes
by asking students to predict the reading on a top-pan balance when a stone (and, in other similar
examples, a wood block, some sand, and some sugar) is moved from a position beside a beaker
of water and placed in it (Figure 1) –before going on to check this out by making measurements
[6].

Figure 1 A practical task on conservation of mass (weight)

Practical laboratory work is the essence of science and should be at the heart of science learning.
Really effective practical activities enable students to build a bridge between what they can see
and handle and scientific ideas that account for their observations [7]. The diagram 1(Fig 2)
shows how practical work support science students.

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Figure 2 The diagram show the support of practical work for science students

Teachers are the principal actors in the teaching learning process. Considering the influence that
teacher’s beliefs have on the student’s quality of learning and their experiences, it is important to
develop technical and scientific skills, and improves scientific understanding in order to
framework a proposal that intends to promote science competencies. International literature
indicates that what the teachers know about science, its teaching and learning has a strong
influence in the way they interpret and act when teaching [8].
The importance of practical work in science is widely. Most high school and preparatory
teachers in this country lack the basic understanding about science that they need to make
informed decisions about the many scientific issues affecting their lives. Neither this basic
understanding often referred to as scientific literacy nor an appreciation for how science has
shaped society nor culture is being cultivated during the high school years. It is also important to
distinguish, and keep in mind, that the school science curriculum in most countries has two
distinct purposes. First, it aims to provide every young person with sufficient understanding of
science to participate confidently and effectively in the modern world a ‘scientific literacy’ aim.
Second, advanced societies require a steady supply of new recruits to jobs requiring more

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detailed scientific knowledge and expertise; school science provides the foundations for more
advanced study leading to such jobs [9].
In addition, many individual scientists, companies, universities, teachers, and schools are
working together to improve high school science courses, including laboratory teaching and
learning. To date, however, there has been no systematic effort to assess the scope of these
diverse activities and their impact on the science achievement of high school students. Thus, it is
needed to focus on the strategy to promote practical work in school science.
1.1 Statement of the problem

The new policy of emphasis to Science and Technology is legitimate according to the research
participants of new Ethiopian educational road map. As highly aspiring for poverty alleviation
and economic revolution, it is appropriate if educational programs are inclined more to the
sciences and technology than the humanities and the arts. But the purpose can be defeated if they
are offered mainly in theoretical terms as is the case in now. In this country teachers often have
insufficient content knowledge or alternative ideas about science due to evaporation. Hence it is
good to support of the quality of education by preparing teachers and enhancing coordination
across the entire education system. In order to achieve this school science and authentic science
have met, and students have been introduced to authentic science in various ways. For example,
through visits to science centers, science museums, through longer projects within schools, or in
collaborations with universities. It is kwon that the university has at its core, a student-centered
commitment to prepare broadly educated, technologically proficient, and highly productive
citizens to attain meaningful careers, to enjoy enriched lives, and to make contributions to a
culturally diverse society. However, with the traditional laboratories, each experiment is set up
at a fixed physical space. Thus, due to distance, budget and other facilities it is difficult to use
such laboratory for all schools. Thus, it is important to find new idea that enable students and
high school students to do experiments. We are going to design mobile lab for high school and
preparatory school. This work proposal directly addresses the university mission by building
synergistic relationships between Werabe University and the siltie zone community schools. This
stage sets the tone for future work by university such as STEM.

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 1.2 Objective
1.2.1 General objective

To design movable chemistry lab that support teachers and teaching assistants in

improving the effectiveness of practical work that can increase the motivation of student

to learn science consecutively.

1 .2.2 Specific objectives

 To help students to work the experiments as the curriculum
 To improve teachers motivation in enhancing students’ interest and motivation in science
learning
 To increase positive affective experiences of teachers by expecting teachers play a key
role in supporting their students’
 To direct teachers to “take into account each student’s needs, circumstances, experiences
and thinking”, and “reinforce the pupils’ desire to learn as well as the pupil’s confidence
in their own ability”
 To motivate teachers and support teachers to development of values through role models,
experiences.
 To help teachers to create students with intrinsic motivation, mastery goals, high self-
efficacy and who see high value in science tasks learn and achieve more in science.
 To improve the clarity of the learning outcomes associated with practical work to give the
participants missing information and allows students to form skills of professional and
appropriate behavior in the performance
 To ensure that the participants share their impressions and feelings and express their
wishes.

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 1.3 Expected Student Outcomes:
 Both teachers and students can gain sufficient understanding of science to participate
confidently and effectively in the modern world by hypothesizing that the teacher
partially influences students’ experiences and outcomes if s/he mediates parts of the
science content and implementation of activities.
 It may help to change on attitude of school community those has miss understanding
about science
 Teachers feel greater confidence in teaching using inquiry after participating in this
training
 It can be the foot step of many of the research apprenticeships that are arranged as extra-
curricular programs, for example as summer schools to which students with special
interest in science
 Create partnerships between students, teachers, and scientists in which they can work
together to answer real world questions about a phenomenon or problem the scientist is
studying
 It gives opportunities to students to be important partners in authentic research and learn
from researchers, while researchers get valuable help with collection of sampled
materials, for example from a wide range of geographical locations
 Universities and higher institution will get a greater number of students interested to
study science and technologies.

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2. Procedure
2.1 Methodology
Ten high schools (One high school from one Woreda) are selected for the project work. First, the
equipment and glassware need to be packed away. Once everything is safely packed up and the
old lab space will be cleaned; the lab will be driven to the high schools. When we arrived at new
place (high schools), staring at a lab that contains dozens of unopened boxes can be quite
intimidating. We may make a start on unpacking but then realize we have to raid several other
boxes to carry out our plan. Inevitably, there will be a moment where we need those items that
were so confidently discarded prior to packing.

2.2 Materials and chemicals

Apparatus

Burette, beakers, cylinders, Bunsen burner, water bath, thermometer, condenser, conical flasks,
volumetric flasks, test tubes, rods, mass balance, ice bath, dish, hot plate

Chemicals:
Ethanol, Sugar, HCl, Zn metal, Sodium chloride, KMnO4, Silver nitrate, Sodium acetate
(CHCOONa), Mg metal, Soda lime, Copper (Cu), Hexane, H2SO4, CaC2, NaOH, Benzene,
bromine water, Distilled water, CuCl2, Ethanoic acid, NH4OH, NaCl, Yeast, CCl4, Animal fat,
(CaOH)2, Ammonium sulphate, CaCO3, Potassium chromate, Iron (III) alum indicator

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2.3 Experiments to be done
1. Lab safety orientations
2. Laboratory materials and equipments
3. Mass and volume measurements
4. Investigation of the Law of Conservation of Mass
5. Bunsen burner
6. Physical and chemical changes
7. Preparation of solutions
8. Investigation of Solubility of Ionic Compounds
9. Simple distillation
10. Standardization of sodium hydroxide solution
11. Determination of halides argentometrically
12. The chemistry of chromium
13. Preparation of Soap
14. Heat of reaction
15. Esterification reaction
16. Preparation of ethane
17. Preparation of ethyne
18. Properties of toluene
19. Measuring Rate of Reaction
20. Determination of Diffusion of Gases
21. The Buffer Action of Solutions

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2.4 Work Plan
The project work needs seven months to purchase chemicals, prepare the purchased chemicals
and address all high schools in siltie zone
Table 2.1 the research work plan
No List of tasks Specific time table (September 2015- February 2015 E.C)

Nov

Mar
Dec
Sep

Feb
Oct

Jan
1 Purchasing
chemicals for project
work
2 Preparing the
Purchased chemicals
for project work
3 Doing the
experiments and
assessing students
4 Completing the
project work and
evaluating the
outcome

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3 Budget break down

3.1 Chemicals, Stationery, protective and supportive materials

Items Unit of Measurements Quantity Unit price Total price

Labelling Marker Pack 3 100 300
Sticker and plaster Pieces 4*2 100 800
Hand soap Pieces 4 50 200
Gloves Pack 10 100 500
Pen Pack 2 200 400
Project folder Pieces 1 200 200
Polyethylene plastic bags Pieces 100 5 500
Laboratory Kit Pieces 6 2000 12,000
Estimated Chemical and Pieces 30 3000 200,000
reagents cost
Sub total 214900

3.2 Travel costs

No Person Unit Quantity Unit cost Total cost

1 6 Experts during doing 10 200*6 12,000
experiments.
Siltie zone high schools
2 Purchasing chemicals Addis Ababa 2 300*2 1200

Sub total 13,200

3. Perdiem Expenses
No Person Unit Quantity Unit cost Total cost
1 6 chemists Days 70days*6 383*6*70 160860

2 Purchasing chemicals Days 3days*2 724*2*3 4,344

Sub total 165,204

Total estimated budget (ET. Birr): 393304

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4 Ethics

Ethical clearance will be obtained from Werabe University Research and community service vice
president

5. Beneficiaries

The beneficiaries of this project are the society at large. In fact, the teachers and students of Siltie
zone are primary beneficiaries. Universities will also be beneficiaries of the outcomes of this
project because students which have good science back ground will join the universities.

6. Gender and Environmental Perspective

Over the past years, the education struggle has been to set goals, objectives and actions to fast-
track access for all and retention for girls in order to reach effective achievement of students.
Thus, we agree that gender equity and equality, and ensure that girls and women in the fields are
the part of this training.

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References

1. http://dictionary.cambrige.org.
2. Oli Negassa. Ethiopian students' achievement challenges in science education:
implications to policy formulation AJCE, 2014, 4(1).
3. Tirussew Teferra, Amare Asgedom, Jeilu Oumer, Tassew W/hanna, AkliluDalelo and
Berhannu Assefa. Ethiopian Education Development Roadmap, Ministry of Education
Education Strategy Center (ESC) 2018.
4. Solomon Belay Mulugeta Atnafu. Kassa Michael Amha Ermia. Strategic Policy for
National Science, Technology and Mathematics Education, Main Document japan
international cooperation agency.
5. M. P. Silverman. Motivating Students to Learn Science: A Physicist’s Perspective,
Creative Education, 2015, 6, 1982-1992.
6. Susan R. Singer, Margaret L. Hilton, and Heidi A. Schweingruber. America's lab report:
investigations in high school sciencethe national academies press .2006
7. Emma Woodley. Practical work in school science – why is it important? December 2009,
91(335)
8. Cristian Merino, Carla Olivares, Angélica Navarro, Karina Ávalos, Marta Quiroga
Characterization of the beliefs of preschool teachers about sciences
9. Robin Millar. The role of practical work in the teaching and learning of science,
University of York, High School Science Laboratories: Role and Vision, National
Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, 2004

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