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This photo shows a physics class forming a silicon lattice doped with aluminium. The silicon atoms are represented by the prefects in yellow shirts with their 4 valence electrons by students in blue. The group III aluminium doping atom with just 3 valence electrons, is formed by the head girl in the middle with the red jacket. If you look carefully at the back you can just see an impurity atom! This type of improvisation is very popular with students and is made easier with the wide variety of natural resources available and a free hand to do as you wish without the overly restrictive safety considerations so often found in UK schools. Of course this is even more so with biology practicals. Not many biology pracs in the UK include dissecting animals ranging from scorpions to snakes and viewing blood in mosquitos' abdomens - students don't tend to be sueamish! During one of our lessons, a fellow VSO teacher had a small 3 foot crocodile run along the vernada. Before she knew what was happening, a student had caught it and it formed the centre piece for the next couple of days classes. The crocodile wasn't dissected and was returned to the local Black Volta a couple of days later!
