PaxWorks in Belize
PaxWorks completed another Collaborative Teacher Training
in Belize. It was a smashing success that is still bearing so
many seeds that it is hard to count the ways. We are partnering
with West Virginia University and are accredited for three graduate
credit hours. WVU, a truly global campus, has a record of academic
excellence and a reputation of excellent human relations. We
are honored to be part of it, and are looking forward to expanding
our relationship.
We want to share some of the details of our training, and ask
you to participate as well in the future.
Carol Babb, the competent
and cordial Director of the Belize Anglican School System, Ursula
Daniels, Executive Director and Founder of PaxWorks, and Jenny
Bardwell, Community Curriculum Coordinator for West Virginia
University’s HSTA program, decided to collaborate in a Science
Teacher Training that would prepare a group of top teachers
as Master Teachers for their district. Of high importance was
the forming of diverse teams of educators who would learn and
teach one another along the way. This happened in many wonderful
ways. We went to reefs, jungles, cays, caves, rivers, zoos,
night-hikes, to gather scientific data and analyze them. The
teachers collaborated on the design of science/ math/ technology
(SMT) activities for their fellow teachers and their students
that will motivate them to go out into their immediate environments,
to ask questions about what they encounter, and to gather solid
findings. Together teachers and students can present data to
their communities, begin to get involved in local decision making,
and lend support towards public cooperation and adaptation to
the impacts of climate change. Students can be incredibly effective
teachers, and their passion and enthusiasm, when ignited, are
contagious. Specific goals were:
- Design hands-on inquiry activities that motivate secondary students to examine local science and ecology issues – such as tropical biodiversity, ecosystems, marine biology, and global warming.
- Raise teachers’ awareness of effective strategies to enhance brain compatible learning.
- Learn about Belizean indigenous culture and apply those elements of social capital to motivate students to learn.
- Apply those learning to WV, and gather wisdom from there as well.
- Gather data, collate results, evaluate the outcomes among students, employing evaluation tools aligned with national programs in both countries.
This is a perfect fit with PaxWorks’ mission to introduce innovative
experiential teaching methodologies and rigorous scientific
processes. We value hands-on, inquiry-based, relevant teaching
practices, and rigorous data gathering protocols. We work with
schools and a variety of disadvantaged educational not-for-profit
organizations, often in support of gender equity in areas of
the world that actively discourage education for women and girls.
Since PaxWorks supports groups who frequently experience isolation
and discrimination, we want to nurture cross-cultural friendships,
initiate dialogues about HOW we learn, and invite ideological
reflections that examine related social, cultural and pedagogical
factors.
Jenny Bardwell, the Community Curriculum Coordinator for Central
Administration of WVU’s innovative and successful HSTA program,
is partnering with PaxWorks in this international program. Jenny,
a gifted teachers’ teacher, is the perfect person to organize
West Virginia’s HSTA Program for 9th to 12th grade math and
science education. The program encourages aspirations, opens
doors, empowers minority and underrepresented students and rural
communities. She invites scientific dialogue and joyful participation
among science teachers that inspires them to carry their learning
into the classroom.
Ursula Daniels, Executive Director and Founder of
PaxWorks,
has long term experience teaching Conflict Resolution, pedagogy
and group relations. She and Jenny Bardwell have just completed
the second collaborative science teacher training in Belize.
Twenty wonderful High & Middle School teachers participated
exploring first-hand some of the environmental problems facing
Belizeans. Guided by our local aquatic entomologist and watershed
expert, Dr. Ed Boles, the teachers collaborated in forming research
teams, performed exciting science activities in native tropical
settings, and reported their results and follow-up goals to
the large group. The teachers are elated to continue their studies.
Due to eager demand for further Trainings we designed an eight-day
collaborative teacher training between WV & Belize is planned
for 2009. It will take place in Southern Belize, on the beaches,
rivers, creeks, and Tobacco Caye in the Caribbean. Teachers
will design their own hydrology investigation, based on local
environmental degradation. As always, PaxWorks will donate laptops
for some of the poorer schools. Inspiration, the educational
software company, has already donated valuable software.
PaxWorks’
donated webcams will keep the participants connected and open
doors to student communications. Further, a Belize career educator
has received a four month professional development scholarship
in SMT from the WVU Council for International Programs and is
beginning to work towards her Ph.D. in chemistry.
We are all excited! I also encourage you to join us, and donate
to our scholarship fund.
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| Belize Teachers | Carol Babb Superintendent of Anglican Schools | Ursula Daniels & Jenny Bardwell searching for research site on the world's second largest reef for teacher training |