About this ebook
About the author
About the Author Barongwa Master Baipidi taught D&T at Junior Secondary Schools for 7 years, Senior Secondary Schools for 3 years and Teacher Education Colleges of Education for 6 years in Botswana. He has also facilitated and participated in a number of seminars. In 2000 he participated at the Botswana Symposium on Harnessing Science and Technology for Development (BOSHASTED) wherein he presented a paper on the linking of ‘Science’ and ‘Design & Technology’ in the Junior Certificate curriculum. From 2001 to 2004 he chaired the ‘Stakeholders Committee’ that was responsible for the establishment of the first ever Science and Technology Centre also known as the ‘Discovery Centre’ in Botswana. The Centre was a project by the then Botswana Technology Centre (now Botswana Institute for Technology, Research and Innovation). In the years 2005-2006 while reading for a Master of Education in Science Mathematics and Technology at the University of Pretoria, he organized, chaired and presented in the monthly Science and Technology seminars held at University of Pretoria Centre for Science, Mathematics and Technology Education. The seminars were aimed at providing a forum for the Masters and Ph.D. students to share their research work progress with their supervisors. He is also a certified trainer of trainers in the establishment of the ‘Child Friendly Schools’ project in Botswana. Recently in 2014 he attended the Institute for Public Private Partnerships (IP3) wherein his main focus was on educational partnerships. Between 2011 and 2012, he travelled to Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe on assignment by the Ministry of Education and skills development to market the Botswana Education system across SADC countries. In August 2012, his next assignment brought him to the U.S where he facilitates partnerships between Universities in the USA/Canada/Caribbean and Botswana. To date some USA universities among them Ohio University, University of Louisville, UPenn, and University of Cincinnati have collaborations with Botswana universities and government departments. He has two research projects under my belt. In 2005 he conducted a mini-study on ‘how indigenous knowledge system mirrors itself in modern science and technology paradigm’. The study compared the epistemological, theoretical and practical understanding of a traditional scorpion-bite healer and a specialist medical officer in scorpion bites. In 2006 he submitted for examination a dissertation entitled ‘The cognitive processes of form three Botswana pupils as they solved a ‘Design & Technology problem’. The study comprised a protocol analysis of the pupils’ design processes using a ‘think-aloud’ technique in an attempt to map the cognitive processes involved in design problem solving context. In 2000 he published a Design & Technology book entitled ‘Thinking while doing and doing while thinking’ which was largely used by teacher trainees in their professional studies part of their Design & Technology course. The Second edition of the book is hereby proposed for publication in 2015. In 2001 he volunteered to be the Patron of the only Primary School in his village Mogapi, and introduced the ‘Baipidi Award’. Annually students who achieve highest grades in both lower primary (grade 4) and upper primary (grade 7) get prize money in recognition of their excellence. He holds a Master of Education in Science & Technology (2006) from the University of Pretoria (Republic of South Africa, a Bachelor of Education (Honors) in Design & Technology (1999) from Exeter University in the UK and a Diploma in Secondary Education (1991) from the University of Botswana.