As part of the National Volunteers Day celebrations and in honour of Young at Heart (YAH) Ghana’s 11th anniversary in September, the YAH Koforidua-based volunteers embarked on a digital literacy outreach program on September 21, 2024, at the Trinity Royal Presby School.

The outreach brought together 9 enthusiastic YAH volunteers and 2 dedicated teachers from the school. Together, they engaged approximately 60 students from JHS1 to JHS3 on a related Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) topic. As an organization aiming to bridge the gaps between teaching and learning by educating students in an interactive and fun way, we always seek to make learning more practical.

The outreach module was centred on the heart, which was linked to the story of the race between the hare and the tortoise from the Ananse the Teacher App. Volunteers led an interactive session exploring how physical activities like walking, running, dancing, playing, etc., affect the heart rate. Students got hands-on, testing the rate of their heartbeats before and after engaging in some fun exercises. The day’s highlight was a STEM experiment demonstrating how blood is pumped through the body, allowing students to connect the science behind their heartbeats to real-world biological processes using everyday materials (straw, bottles, scissors, tape, water, red colour, mould).

Again, we ended September with another digital outreach to Blessed Clementina Catholic School in Ashaima by the Accra-base volunteers on September 28, 2024. Over 50 pupils were introduced to and engaged with the Scratch software and its practical applications. The support of our 12 volunteers ensured a meaningful experience for the next generation of changemakers.

Finally, to test the effectiveness of the modules and students’ overall understanding, a baseline and post-test were taken before and after the teaching of the modules.