Development of Low-Cost Educational Materials for Chemistry

Chemistry is a practical and experimental science. Various attempts were made worldwide to design and implement Chemistry curricula to reflect this practical nature of Chemistry. In Africa, whereas there had been many donor-supported initiatives to equip Chemistry labs, these initiatives did not succeed in sustaining practical Chemistry in the continent. One avenue to solve this problem is to engage African chemists, chemistry teachers and their students in designing and developing low-cost educational materials for Chemistry teaching and learning. This paper tries to highlight the principles and approaches towards the development of low-cost Chemistry materials from locally available materials. It finally lists the procedures used to develop low-cost materials for Chemistry teaches in Ethiopia.