Having Friday off certainly helped me to summon up some energy for the first day of science training on Saturday. The original plan was for the first two days, out of a planned sequence of four, to take place on Friday and Saturday, but the public holiday forced a change to Saturday and Monday. After enjoying a rest day it took a bit of effort to get mentally geared up for training, but the day worked out well, despite a slow start. By the start time of 8.30am only two people had arrived, out of 41 who were invited. After a few minutes of worrying that I would have to cancel, some more arrived and we finally started at 8.45 with sixteen. Somewhat less than forty one but here you have to make do. At least the sixteen who did turn up were ready and interested. The first day was designed to be a basic course in teaching skills, and covered learning styles, self evaluation of lessons and some discussion of science and why we teach it in schools. The most interesting part of the day was during one discussion about the nature of science teaching, when one of the teachers argued that teaching science in school is a waste of time because we do not even know the “origin of the earth”. I knew where this was leading, and right enough, he disagreed with a science that teaches humans are the product of evolution. He’s the first person I’ve met here who was willing to talk openly about his Creationist views and I liked his honesty. Although I completely disagree with him, his comments provoked some of the others to contribute which made the whole session more active. I’d like to explore these kinds of views more. At a time when the deceptions of Intelligent Design and Creationism are trying to creep into schools in many places I’m fascinated to uncover what Ethiopians think, in this very religious of societies.

Gill and one of our Ethiopian colleagues jointly delivered one session during the afternoon, and then I finished at 4.15pm. Everybody was keen for an early finish so they could watch the Man Utd vs Liverpool game!

After recovering on Sunday, Day 2 of science training took place on Monday. This time, most of the day was to be delivered by one of the biology instructors in the college. During our pre-training discussions he kept reassuring me that he was ready and had everything planned. I had to bury my worries about his inability to listen and let go a bit. At least the training would not all be delivered by a Ferenji. As for the day itself, I sat and observed all morning while gripping my seat in frustration. Watching it was like watching somebody on teaching practice making elementary mistakes. This is an experienced teacher educator I’m talking about. One of the morning sessions involved the teachers collecting some leaves and river water, and then looking at the cells under microscopes in the college biology lab. The session started badly when the instructor disappeared for a few minutes without leaving any instructions for the teachers on what to do. Eventually the teachers had something to look at and it was quite satisfying helping them and watching their delight at seeing objects many of them had only studied from books. Unfortunately the practical experience of even the biology teachers was woefully lacking, and there were some fantastic examples of people describing what they expected to see. I was talking with one of the biology teachers about the amoeba he was looking at under a microscope. He could draw the structure of the amoeba, but when I looked into the microscope it turned out he was looking at an air bubble trapped in the river water sample!

After lunch, the plan was for the college instructor to deliver a session and then I would deliver the final session. As he started the after-lunch session it became obvious he didn’t really know what he was going to do. When he started to introduce the idea of making model cells out of simple materials, he indicated for me to take over. I couldn’t wait! We had a great time for the rest of the afternoon making models out of plastic bags, bits of stones and leaves, and water. Several of the bags burst all over the floor, but the mess was worth the fun and excitement we all had. For me the day ended on a high, and despite the rough edges during the day, some worthwhile training was run by me and an Ethiopian from the college. The real test now is visiting as many of the teachers in school as possible and monitoring the effect.