On 24 April, UNESCO staff travelled across town to deliver a consignment of nearly 300 books to the Campus of Hope, which they had collected for World Book Day.

Staff also distributed educational board games, magazines and other materials received from donors.

Once they had laid out the books on four long tables, the UNESCO team invited the children to come and choose one to read. There were illustrated stories for the young and a range of novels, comic books and magazines for the older children, including children’s classics such as Jules Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth and J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. There were also books to choose from on science, conservation and Samoan history.

While the elder children sat engrossed in a book of their choosing, UNESCO staff played board games with the younger children and read to them. One boy, aged about six years, listened attentively to the richly illustrated story of the evolution of life on Earth, expressing particular fascination with the telltale signs of predator and prey among the dinosaurs pictured, such as sharp teeth on the former and body armour on the latter.

Eight days earlier, UNESCO had organised a science show for the children at the Campus of Hope in collaboration with Imagine Science Samoa, a science centre based in Apia. Science communicators Alo Mulipola and Gabriel Nelson performed a series of experiments for the children to show how air pressure can push, pull, lift and even crush objects with surprising force.

For instance, Alo demonstrated why water does not fall out of a glass when the glass is turned upside down. As the children watched in awe, he explained how the air surrounding the glass exerted an upward force on the bottom of the glass, counteracting the force of gravity to hold the water in place.

As the show progressed, children seated towards the back of the room edged closer to the stage. Many gradually shed their shyness, answering the questions asked by Alo and Gabriel with enthusiasm.

There was no shortage of volunteers to participate in the experiments. Girls took turns holding the hairdryer, for instance, as they tried to manoeuvre a plastic ball suspended in the air by the blast from the hairdryer.

A common thread in these experiments was the way in which everyday household items like drinking glasses and hairdryers were used to explain scientific concepts to children.   UNESCO has been promoting this hands-on approach to teaching science for over quarter of a century. By bringing science alive through experimentation, teachers can make science less abstract for children and learning a more enjoyable experience – as Imagine Science demonstrated so conclusively at the Campus of Hope.

Imagine Science is currently creating interactive scientific experiments aligned with the curriculum validated by the Ministry of Education. The ministry plans to distribute these experiments in the coming months to teachers of Grade 7 and 8 (pupils aged 12–13 years) for them to use in their classrooms in the second semester.

UNESCO’s Office for the Pacific States in Apia is currently implementing a three-year project in Samoa and the Solomon Islands which is working with local stakeholders to improve science education at school level and prepare students better for the transition from secondary school to academic, technical or vocational education and training.

The project got under way in February with UNESCO coordinating an evidence-based analysis of the science education system in both countries. The findings from this study were submitted to stakeholders for their feedback at a national workshop on 7 April held in each of Samoa and Solomon Islands in order to finalise the assessment report.

The next stage of the project will consist in implementing the recommendations which emerged from these national assessments, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, specialists responsible for curriculum development and teacher training, the private sector and teaching community.

The science education project in Samoa and Solomon Islands is being supported by the UNESCO International Institute for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education, which was established in Shanghai, China, in November 2023.