In July of 2019 Dr. Usha Rajdev embarked on a journey to provide STEM education to teachers and institutions in Uganda. Over the course of two weeks she met with one University and four local High schools to develop a STEM program. The Mosquito! Module was implemented in five institutions with Dr. Rajdev’s guidance. Teachers from each institution engaged in training using STEM and what local resources can be used to implement this project. The Mosquito! Module framework focuses on sustainable actions that are defined and implemented by students in reducing mosquito infestations in and around schools. This included cleaning wells, removal of stagnant water, life cycle of mosquitoes and its spreading of diseases, and the importance and urgency of engineering and design of mosquito traps by students. Using STEM and Project Based Learning (PBL), students designed mosquito traps and gathered data. Students are continuing to work and strengthen their projects and traps throughout the course of this year. They are actively engaged in informing their surrounding community about the mosquito problem and offering realistic and sustainable solutions. The students are also communicating with the school nurse to document the decline in cases of malaria in their schools. They are looking forward to sharing their data and projects at the International STEM conference in early August 2020.
High School students place mosquito traps around their school.