The ability to deploy the most appropriate pedagogies to make the teaching and learning of Mathematics an exciting and interesting experience, remains the bane of many a Math teacher.

This, amongst others, has been cited as a key contributory factor to a significantly overwhelming number of students developing an aversion to the subject.

As part of efforts to address this pedagogical deficiency, ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Ghana ( Deepwater) Ltd together with her partners, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and GOIL Offshore Gh. Ltd., have sponsored the organisation of a virtual workshop in the “ Use of Creative Starters” for about five hundred (500) senior high school Math teachers, drawn from across the country.

The workshop was organised in collaboration with Ghana Society for Education Technology (GSET) as part of its activities to mark the International Day of Mathematics  (IDM) which fell on 14th March, 2021.

The two-hour activity was facilitated by subject experts, from some Ghanaian universities and colleges of education, and in possession of an in-depth knowledge in the teaching and application of Maths.

They included Dr. Forster Ntow (lecturer ,UCC); Dr. Thomas Tagoe (neuroscientist, UG); Ms. Eunice Osei Asibey (lecturer, Ada College of Education); Mrs. Millicent Narh-Kert (lecturer, UG); Mr. Reginald Quartey (NaCCA) and Mr. Bubune Adih (Misornu Technologies Ltd)

“Tips/elements of a creative Maths lesson starter”; Excerpts/examples of Maths lesson starters; Techniques to motivate students’ interest in Maths were among the list of topics outlined for discussion.

In her address, Preba Arkaah, Public and Government Affairs Manager of ExxonMobil, highlighted the fact that activities centred around women’s empowerment; health (malaria) and Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) comprised the three broad priority areas around which the company’s corporate social responsibility initiatives focused on.

She underscored the critical role of STEM education if any meaningful strides in our development journey were to be made as a nation.

Ms. Arkaah, disclosed that the support ExxonMobil and her partners were offering in respect of the organisation of the workshop was the oil exploration company’s first intervention in Maths in partnership with GSET.

They were poised as advocates for the actors in the STEM space and more specifically,  the building of the capacity of educators in STEM, with its anticipated consequential improvement in overall teaching and learning outcomes in Ghanaian schools.

Other key stakeholders added their voices to amplify the clarion call for a concerted national effort to promote activities that seek to  place the teaching and learning of STEM at the heart of  the national development discourse. One such voice was Mrs. Olivia Opare (Director, Science Resource Centre-GES).

In her key-note address she called attention to the need for the celebration of the IDM and the positive impact it had on students as well as the teachers, whose teaching practices were enhanced through the interventions organised for them.

She was full of praise for GSET for spearheading the Ghana celebration and their efforts to augment the government's attempts to support STEM education.