Collaborative Workshop Port Harcourt, Nigeria Day 5

Versión para impresión

XO’s, GoGo’s, and a whole lot of Water!

Day 5

Whew! It was quite a first day of the workshop here in Port Harcourt and I am tired!  It was a great day full of wonderful new experiences for me.

We started off the day with an introduction by a local Schlumberger manager from nearby Lagos.  Andrew, the manager, was enthusiastic to talk to the teachers and students to say the least.  He shared his passion for science and engineering and talked about the teachers that inspired him to become a scientist.  His stories became a lively discussion about the state of education in Nigeria along with some teachers praising the work that Schlumberger does for Nigerian schools.  It was a great way to start off the morning.

The afternoon was spent with learning about GoGo’s, Scratch and Water Testing.  Tom took half the group to work with the technology, while I took the other half to go over the Water Testing SEEDKIT.  It was so nice of Tom to “let” me get my feet wet…literally! We tested three water sources around the hotel: standing water from outside (not hard to find on the account of the rain), tap water, and rain water (do you know how you get rain water? …standing in the rain!).  It was great to see the teachers and the students working together to explore the qualities of the water samples. I even had groups that wanted to test more sources, so I gladly handed over my bottle of water.  Halfway through the afternoon we switched groups and did it all over again!

The weather in Port Harcourt is very predictable…rain! And flooding! Sort of like being in Houston the last month! It makes for “fun” traffic in a city with no traffic rules! Did someone say Road Safety SEEDKIT???  =)