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STAN's main focus is on the improvement of science teacher effectiveness through the organisation of workshops, seminars, and conferences for teachers. User-friendly textbooks have also been published. Through these activities, we have made modest contribution to our national development over the past four decades. Indeed, STAN is regarded as the foremost science teacher association in Africa. However there is a growing concern that STAN need not and should not be contented with its leadership position in the African region. The view is being held that we are not doing as much as we should given the status of STM education in the developed world and the overriding importance of STM education in the emerging world order. In order to properly position itself for effective role, STAN needs both human and infrastructural resources. But while the Association is blessed with a large reservoir of human resources, the same cannot be said of infrastructural facilities. STAN's Annual Conferences and Workshops which are held in rotation in various parts of the country have exposed the inadequacy of training facilities in STM teacher education in the country. The STAN Place is conceived to solve this problem.
The STAN Place will have capacity for the training of about 1,500 teachers at a time. The building will consist of:
- a conference hall to seat about 1,500 persons
- six laboratories with fittings and preparatory rooms for Basic science & Technology (ages 6 - 11), Basic science (ages 12 - 14), mathematics (ages 6 - 17), physics (ages 15 - 17), biology (ages 15 - 17), chemistry (ages 15 - 17) to seat 50 persons each.
- a workshop for technology education to seat 50 persons
- a multimedia library to seat 50 persons
- 16 - 20 seminar rooms for concurrent sessions each to seat 100 persons
- information-communications-technology (ICT) room
- a bookshop
- a dinning room to seat 50 persons
- Boardroom to seat 50 persons
- Six offices
The project is being executed in four phases. The Federal Government of Nigeria through the Education Trust Fund supported the construction of Phase 1 while the Ajumogobia Science Foundation is supporting the construction of Phase 4. STAN is exploring avenues of support for Phases 2 and 3.
Many members of the Association are contributing financially towards the project. A friend of STAN Emeritus Professor Napoleon Bryant, Jr. has been raising funds in the USA towards the project. As at 22 April, 2010 Professor Bryant has raised a total of US $25,174.45. The STAN Boardroom has been named after him.
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