Piloting an innovation for teachers’ capacity development in STEM subjects in Nigerian secondary schools

Connecting Learning for secondary school Teachers Capacity Development in STEM (CL4STEM) is a project that aims to pilot innovation and research its effectiveness and potential scaling for building capacity of teachers in secondary school in science and mathematics to foster higher-order teaching with inclusion and equity (HOTIE). It is a South-South collaboration among higher education institutions to adapt and pilot the Connected Learning Initiative (CLix) (http://clix.tiss.edu), which was developed and scaled in India, to new contexts in Bhutan, Nigeria and Tanzania with support from the IDRC. CL4STEM engaged in teacher professional development for newly recruited teachers in Nigeria by implanting and using highly localized and contextualized open education resources (OER), strengthening the use of technology and local resources in teaching enhancing contents knowledge specifically in the sciences and mathematics Data were collected in three phases, baseline, midline, and endline. The findings indicate that teachers' understanding of CL4STEM innovation improved from baseline to endline. At the baseline 2 teachers were still learning how to effectively navigate CL4STEM modules and Telegram group (CoPs) while none was at the endline. There is an increase in the number of teachers exploring ways of improving CL4STEM teaching strategies through further refinement of the modules and CoP participation and/or alternative ways of achieving better results from 1 at midline to 5 at endline. There is a decrease in the number of teachers that are exploring ways of collaboration with other teachers and educators to help impact student learning using CL4STEM teaching strategies from 11 at the midline to 3 at the endline.