Capacity building in science education in rural communities

Authors

  • Mayrose Salvador Pueblo Science

Abstract

The importance of youth participation in science professions is consistently increasing with awareness of challenges people face around the world. However, chronic infrastructure under-investment and lack of effective science teacher education in rural and remote communities has resulted in a disadvantage for youth living in such areas. For the past decade Pueblo Science, a Canadian-based charity, has delivered professional development programs for science teachers in remote communities in the developing world. These programs include geographically specific curriculum content development, with a focus on hands-on learning methodology. We have also mentored and initiated out-of-school science activities, enabling youth to consider science as more than a school subject and use their acquired knowledge to undertake challenges meaningful for them and their community. In this presentation, we will share our experience working with teachers and students in Canada, the Philippines, in Guyana and in Jamaica. We will showcase some of the activities that were developed and rationalize their relevance to the local communities. We will also present how we successfully transitioned our programs online during the pandemic and share the best practices we've learned from training science educators and outreach instructors on how to engage students during synchronous or asynchronous learning.

About the Speaker

Mayrose Salvador, Pueblo Science

Mayrose Salvador received her BS in Chemistry from the University of the Philippines and her PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of Toronto. She is the co-founder of Pueblo Science, a Canadian charity that has provided training to over 3,900 science teachers and has engaged over 400,000 students in science. She is passionate about using technology to solve community problems. She was involved in developing iron fortified snacks for kids and in collaboration with the Impact Centre at the University of Toronto. She also helped deploy affordable solar lighting to the indigenous communities of the Philippines.

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Issue

Article ID

SPP-2021-INV-1A-02

Section

Invited Presentations

Published

2021-08-29

How to Cite

[1]
M Salvador, Capacity building in science education in rural communities, Proceedings of the Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas 39, SPP-2021-INV-1A-02 (2021). URL: https://proceedings.spp-online.org/article/view/SPP-2021-INV-1A-02.