QUALITY CLASSROOMS - 2009 SCHOOL YEAR UPDATES

quality classrooms impact

what is active learning?

We posed this question to Ato Mulat Gebre, who led a 5-day teacher training session on the topic. In his 20 years as a teacher, Ato Mulat has seen big changes in the classrooms of Ethiopia. The most pronounced is the shift from lecture-based learning, a top-down approach where the teacher delivers information to students which they memorize and then regurgitate, to a student-centered, participatory approach. This methodology engages students through their different senses and learning styles; be it visual, aural, tactile or kinetic; hence "active" learning.

Ato Mulat used few teaching aids for the morning half of his workshop. Instead, he activated the trainees' imaginations by posing everyday knowledge as scientific questions. "A thermal jug keeps hot liquids hot on the inside, but stays cool on the outside and doesn't burn our fingers. How and why does this happen? Everyday situations are full of scientific questions," he says. Ato Mulat puts forward the question to the teacher trainees, who then brainstorm in groups to come up with the scientific reasons for the phenomenon. They were then asked to present them to the rest of the class in an engaging way, just as they would have their own students do. In the afternoon segment, he employed the use of the science kits which the schools received two weeks prior as part of Science Teacher Training. Again he started with an everyday question, and trainees this time used experiments to explain their answers.

When it was teacher Daniel Amare's turn to shine, Daniel confidently announced that "a noisy classroom is a student-centered classroom." When asked to elaborate, he describes Active Learning perfectly. "When you have lecture-based lessons centered around the teacher, the students will be quiet. This is because they are passive. When you have student-centered lessons, there will be much noise because they will all be enthusiastically discussing among each other for answers. A noisy classroom should therefore be seen in the most positive way."

The 5-day Active Learning seminar covered the subjects of Environmental Sciences (Physics, Chemistry and Biology), Language Arts and Mathematics. Ato Yohannes Gesese facilitated the Mathematics segment and was hands-down the most popular trainer. Having taught primary school for 15 years, and secondary school for a dozen more, he is now a director at a high school. "The wisdom that comes from his experience is tremendous," says grade one teacher Mulu Berhanu of Mere'da School, "and he showed us how to use everyday local objects as teaching aids. This is very important in poor rural schools."

"Another important thing we learned from Ato Yohannes is to be completely honest with our students," adds Teacher Daniel, "Sometimes when a student asks a question, we don't know the answer. We feel that as teachers they expect us to know, so we make something up or we find some other way to avoid it. Ato Yohannes suggested that we admit we don't know the answer, and then turn it into an assignment for the students and for ourselves. Knowledge comes from questioning, after all."

Ato Yohannes wholeheartedly believes the group learning approach is the most effective. "But to put my students into groups, I must first know my students," he says. If forming a group of eight students for instance, he will place two weaker students with 3-4 average students and a couple of strong students. "It is fantastic to see in just a few weeks the weaker and average students strengthened to the next level," he beams. And what about the strong students? Are they challenged further? "In my school they receive tutorials by students in upper grades, and in their peer groups they are thought of as teachers themselves, which makes them very proud and happy to help their friends."

coming up: training the leaders of tomorrow

Soon we'll be training students to be future leaders in society by first being leaders in five unique school clubs: The Civic & Ethics Club, Sport & Music, HIV & Gender, Language & Literature and the Environmental Sanitation Club. Student interest in school clubs has proven infectious in schools like Wazza, where-inspired by the five imagine1day school clubs they received last year, seven more student-run clubs were created. Eight committees were also formed, which are run by students with the guidance of teachers.

coming up: materials that make a difference

Teacher Mulu's dream is close to coming true. When educators are faced with an annual school budget of a mere 9 cents per student for stationary and materials, it is no wonder we commonly see children begging not for money, rather for pens. In the coming weeks, imagine1day will be delivering the materials that every child deserves to have access to.

During our monitoring and evaluation interviews last June, where we gauge the success of the programs we've already implemented, there was overwhelming positive feedback and appreciation for creative writing materials, sports materials and reading corners. Below are some of our findings:

• Something as simple as a pen and paper open the floodgates for students' reflections of their world.
• Sports materials allow students to achieve and maintain good health while encouraging cooperation and camaraderie. Having a chance to play at school keeps attendance up.
• Students love to read books and are eager to take them home in the evenings and on the weekends.

It's easy to see that a school is more than four walls and a blackboard. We'll update you again once all 2009 Quality Classroom activities are fully implemented.