STEM Education in Botswana: Girls Getting Geeky

Our beneficiaries across the country face a daily crisis in trying to collect anything that can act as fuel. Many of them don’t have access to electricity and some walk many kilometres just to collect wood or do not have the money to buy gas for a standard oven.

In this activity our in school participants learned about solar energy and how it can solve some of the household problems they have. A solar oven can give them the ability to cook food, using the sun’s natural heat. Part of the materials used during this activity were recycled from the participants homes like small boxes painted black inside, which they used to trap some of the sun's energy to make the air inside the box hotter than the air outside the box. They also used aluminium foils to direct the sun in to the box. Other materials included cling wrap, scissors and seal tapes.

To test the oven design, it was placed in the direct sun on a sunny day when the outdoor temperature was at least 28 degrees Celsius since this was during winter time. To see if the design was a success, it had to melt marshmallows and chocolate to make s’mores. After 30 minutes, results were showing and the food items had melted. The participants had a s’more party!

After this activity, during a focus group the participants shared that this is something that they will be sharing with their family members to save money for electricity and firewood and promote going green for a healthier and safe environment.