Resilience - In Not So Timid Timika

Resilience = Challenge + Failure + Motivation 

As Part of my program in West Papua,I was able to combine teacher professional learning, student enrichment, as well as community development. The first location was in Tembagapura, a 30 min chopper flight at dawn into a mining community at 2500 meters. Here we ran student enrichment during the day, and teacher PD in the afternoons. We also ran the first the my science Oasis - where students/educators get to build their own hands-on science exhibits, creating learning tools, but more importantly building confidence and skills.  I was also able to work with the lowlands "campus" of the IB school located in Kuala Kencana just outside the town of Timika. THAT was a great experience.. mind you just coming down the mountain in a steel box lined with 32 mm Kevlar on the back of a truck ..aka . a BUS.. was an experience. Once I had wrapped with the teachers and students of the Kuala Kencana school, I had time to volunteer next door, at the "local"  school - also supported by the mining company - for the local and Indonesian families. The teachers at this school have less exposure to different approaches to teaching and many have had less support in their own science education. Certainly the schools labs were... bare.. little equipment, fewer materials.. and less excitement.

My aim is always to TRY to inspire some change - in skills, confidence and approach. no matter the circumstances of the educators. As I only had 1 day with this school - we divided the morning into some Professional learning with the science and maths teachers - and had the afternoon scheduled for these teachers to work with some of the classes to share out the experiences we covered in the morning. This combination of PD delivery to teachers - quickly followed up with a structured opportunity foe the teachers to trial the activity with students is a critical feature of my ....process.

This captures the teachers at a moment when their enjoyment of the activity, and its linkage with learning outcomes is at its freshest. It brings (forces ?) them to share this with their students and realize the activities as simple, easy to stage and run, and controllable/enjoyable is critical in encouraging the teachers to adopt such approaches in the future.

In the morning the teachers had the chance to try some basic MAKE activities, but ones which expose the laws that would be drilled in the formal text books - laws of motion, force, and mechanics.

We run the bike light colour mixing demo. always a strong experience of optics, colour theory and basic logic.

The Paper flower inquiry - is always a strong activity - teachers and students. Design, scientific method, observation and critical thinking all in bowl of water and wet paper. 

We move outside and meet the students

Once the teachers and I had covered a number of the activities, we selected 3 that they felt they could deliver, and facilitate. We had booked a large undercover outdoor space - for 3 classes to go through the experiences.  During lunch I set up the activities. Each class would have 30 to 40 minutes on each, with a teacher facilitating.

One of the groups of students exploring the shapenet activity. The first phase of enumeration and categorization - is engaging enough - BUT - when the networks are emptied and swapped with other groups - the challenge of pure logic and strategy sees a marked step up in communication, group dynamics and verbalizing problem solving tactics.

An activity that I developed for this particular tour of Papua was an Ice balloon challenge.
simple in terms of materials ( if one has time to set it up). The Activity requires a series of balloons filled with water - ideally a few days before in a hot climate - placed into a freezer. ( hanging them as Strange fruit from then grills in an upright freezer is ideal ( unless housekeeping finds them ).
On the day iof the activity the balloons are brought out, and "burst". releasing a large icy smooth spheroid. The participants - in groups of 4 or 5 - are given 2 lengths of plastic rope - about a meter long. The ice balls are placed on chairs or trays at one end of an arena. They teams have to pick the ice-ball up ( without touching it directly - except for the strings) and transport it to the other end of the arenas. There may be obstacles in the way.

Total focus

The opportunity to work with these schools in West Papua was extraordinary.  Some great educators, esp in the leadership of these schools.

Teaching core content remains a issue. limited resources, and educators with often a narrow experience in what teaching/education can look like.

By sharing some approaches.. ones that use basic materials.. open inquiry.. problem solving and meaningful group collaboration - SOME of these challenges can be met.






It is slow process. But like the melting of the ice balls - through trial..error.and persistence .. we will make progress.