[2][3] While living in Ghana, Markham had observed the darkness of rural homes and school classrooms, and a scarcity of play equipment in schoolyards.

After school selection involving EPI social scientists and the Ghanaian Ministry of Education, Anno Engineering manufactured and installed the systems.

[citation needed] The electricity generated by the merry-go-round and all other play equipment in the EPI system is converted to direct current and used to charge a battery.

[citation needed] Without much access to government-provided electricity or school supplies, the teaching of science within rural villages is often abstract or theoretical.

It was decided that EPI playground equipment could work for teaching general mechanics, physics, energy transfer, and other basic principles of science for instance demonstrating the conversion of power to electricity.