| The science education department
has received a two-year Fulbright Educational Partnership Grant
to work with teacher educators, science teachers, student teachers
and community members halfway around the world in the Philippines.
 |
| Deborah Tippins, professor of science
and elementary education (Photo by Peter Frey) |
The partnership expands the work of Deborah Tippins,
professor of science and elementary education at UGA, whose research
into community-based science education over the past few years had
led her to the Philippine island of Panay. Tippins began collaborating
with science teacher educators at West Visayas State University
(in Iloilo), as well as with classroom teachers and student teachers
in rural barangay (community)
elementary schools. Tippins had spent the 2001–02 academic
year in residence at WVSU as a Fulbright Scholar.
The new Fulbright partnership, an initiative of the U.S. Department
of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, supports
a three-way collaboration involving UGA’s science education
department, the Regional Science Teaching Center and College of
Education at WVSU, and the Regional Science Teaching Center of Western
Mindanao State University (in Zamboanga).
The first of several planned exchanges began in February, when a
small group of science education faculty from UGA spent several
days living, learning and teaching in a variety of rural, coastal
and mountain communities in the southern Philippines. They made
presentations on science teaching strategies and qualitative research
methodologies to the Filipino teachers and teacher educators.
In recent years, however, educators in Southeast Asia have emphasized
using local knowledge and resources in the barangays
to develop relevant science curriculum, and so these researchers
are trying to develop science education based on local needs, including
environmental and health issues. Consequently, the UGA faculty participated
in field experiences designed to enrich their understanding of coral
reef and mangrove ecology in the Philippines.
The rapid economic and cultural change taking place in the Philippines
give teachers many environmental and health dilemmas, says Tippins.
“For instance, in the elementary schools with which we work,
science educators are teaching children about the problems of deforestation
and how that relates to the ozone layer,” she says. “Yet,
after school, children go home and accompany their parents on the
farms to cut down trees. These trees are burned to make charcoal,
which is then sold to buy food for the next day. So there’s
an issue of short-term versus long-term benefits. This issue is
a challenge for the science teacher, as it creates tension between
home and school values.”
One outcome of Tippins’s earlier collaboration in the Philippines
was the development of the Casay Environmental Education and Indigenous
Studies Center in Anini-y. The center serves as a hub for professional
development of science teachers, and gives science education faculty
and students, K–12 classroom teachers and students, and community
members a chance to explore together pressing community environmental
issues—deforestation and erosion, water quality, dynamite
blasting of coral reefs, waste disposal.
“Faculty exchange visits are an important aspect of the partnership,”
says Tippins. “Over the next two years, nine faculty members
from the UGA science education department will visit WVSU and eight
Filipino science teacher educators will visit UGA.”
The first group of Filipino faculty visited UGA earlier this month.
They spent a great deal of time in discussions on campus, but their
itinerary also included the Stone Mountain Environmental Interpretive
Center, the Chattahoochee Environmental Center, Sea World and Zoo
Atlanta. They also observed science classrooms at Barrow Elementary
(Clarke County), Russell Middle School (Barrow County) and Madison
County High School. The visits will give faculty the opportunity
to examine, compare and document models of science teacher preparation,
share ideas through collaborative research and practice, and strengthen
cross-cultural understanding of issues of diversity that affect
the preparation of science teachers.
“Both WVSU and WMSU are located in provinces on separate islands
far from the resources of metro Manila,” says Tippins. “Both
are located in seaport cities, surrounded by rural rice, mango and
coconut farms. WVSU has a rich tradition of preparing •blic
school teachers and its College of Education is designated as a
Center of Excellence. As the oldest educational institution in the
region, WMSU is strategically located where the Visayan and Muslim
cultures meet. Education is carried out amidst a variety of beliefs
and tradition.”
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