2007 Earth Expeditions News
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Two weeks in Thailand
by MEREDITH MCGHAN
IN AN EDUCATIONAL CLIMATE THAT PUTS TEST SCORES OVER CREATIVE LEARNING, teachers looking to open their students' minds must find alternatives on their own time and their own dime -- even if it means leaving the country. Malissa Babe, an eighth-grade English teacher at Becker Middle School in Summerlin, did just that on her summer vacation.
Babe was one of 120 educators selected from a pool of hundreds of applicants to attend Earth Expeditions, a global conservation program established by Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens. The program offers graduate credit courses to teachers for learning about ecology, conservation and community in different parts of the world. Babe spent 14 days in Thailand last month, studying conservation from a Buddhist perspective.
"It can be transformational for students to hear about the rainforest from their own teacher who's experienced it firsthand," said Dave Jenike, co-director of Earth Expeditions and vice president of education and facilities at the Cincinnati Zoo. "Through Earth Expeditions, teachers become the conduit for their students to engage more deeply in their studies, for their schools to become centers of investigation, and for all to advance a powerful conservation ethic to help preserve our natural world."
"In Thailand, we studied conservation and Buddhism through inquiry-based learning," Babe said. "It's about bringing mindfulness to learning, getting the student to understand why they're learning something."
"Inquiry-based learning" -- some people might recognize it as the Socratic method -- seeks to involve students in the learning process by inviting them to ask questions, instead of simply receiving and regurgitating information.
The group of 18 educators first worked with Pilai Poonswad, a former parasitologist who has been instrumental in protecting the endangered hornbill bird species of Thailand's forests. Hornbills nest in natural cavities in the tallest forest trees, so the survival of the forest is essential to their survival. The birds mate for life, with the female hornbill laying one egg per year in her high nest and barricading herself and the chick inside by creating a mud wall. Her mate forages for food and feeds her through a tiny slit in the wall. The rarity of the hornbill made it lucrative for poachers, but Poonswad had a solution.
"The poachers told Dr. Poonswad that one hornbill egg got them enough money for a whole year," Babe said. "She talked the poachers into working with her to save the hornbills. So we walked through the jungle with guys that used to be poachers, and heard the prehistoric sound of wings flapping. It was really exciting."
Hornbills lack wing feathers, which muffle sound. Their flight can be heard up to a mile away.
The group's next stop was a monastery in which monks have partnered with a group of children to form an environmental education club, Dek Rak Nok (or "Children Love Birds").
Babe said she was impressed by the Thai students at Dek Rak Nok."They love what they do and they work so hard," she said. "They make and sell decorative pins painted with the image of a hornbill and have a vested interest in their future, which is great to see in children."
Babe's experience did not end with her return to the States. She's taking an online class, which keeps her in touch with the other participants and their three instructors. When she returns to school, she'll be bringing her experiences to the classroom.
"I learned techniques of concentration from mindfulness exercises that I want to use to help kids relax before tests or readings," she said. "I also want to give students the opportunity for inquiry-based learning by letting them choose subjects they're interested in. I have an idea for collaborating with a science teacher at my school, having the kids involved in a cross-learning experience."
Babe said the most valuable part of her experience with Earth Expeditions was connecting with nature and being part of a community that transcended language barriers.
"If I'd been a tourist, I wouldn't have seen the things I did," she said. "Earth Expeditions allowed me to meet real people in the villages. We stayed in remote areas, ate food on the go, were out in nature, experiencing the same things people who lived there experienced. I was even attacked by a land leech," she added with a laugh.
Babe said she'll try to bring a sense of that adventure and community spirit back to the classroom this fall, as well as teach her students that people have an impact on ecological systems. She said she wants to get across the concept that people can make a difference in the world.
"The sooner children learn that we need to be global citizens, and that we're all part of one world, the better."
Meredith McGhan is a local freelance writer. She can be reached at meredithmcghan@gmail.com.
Source: http://www.lasvegascitylife.com