The Science Project-Pilot Seminar!

This last Wednesday we did our pilot session for the big upcoming teacher trainings. We did our all day (8-5) training with a small group of about 16 teachers, plus a couple of the CCTs and school inspectors. SUCCESS!

The day started out a little frustrating, since on African time 8am really equals 9:30am. So we started much later than planned, but it ended up working out really well because I think we might have run out of information had we not. Sarah and I each did 3 trainings. I taught about higher-order thinking, teaching methods, and assessment. We also had 2 break-out sessions where the teachers rotated to different science experiments we had set up. Part of the goal of the training was to show teachers that you can use local, inexpensive materials to teach science. As we’ve observed in schools around Mbale, we’ve seen that teachers typically teach by lecturing at the board and having students copy. They often say it is because they don’t have the funds for supplies. The teachers seemed to love all that we did, and had great comments and questions. There was some sort of mix-up with the people that the district hired to serve lunch, so we had a lot of downtime waiting for lunch to show up. I asked the teachers if they’d like just a break to relax and chat or if they wanted to keep going while we waited. They all voted to keep going, and asked all sorts of questions. “How do you manage difficult children?” “What do you do for lower learners?” “In America, are your disabled students completely inclusive?” Sarah and I hadn’t planned to talk about any of these topics, but we just went at it. For a while my notes all went out the window, and we shared ideas and struggles and it turned into a great meeting. They really seemed to treat us as professionals and took copious notes. Overall, the day went well and with just a few slight modifications, we will begin the actual seminars this upcoming Tuesday.