Learning approaches featured at exhibition
When you remember your school days what do you think of? You probably remember hours spent sitting in rows copying work from the board. The Belize Teacher’s Training College is trying to change this way of conducting class by getting the students more involved. So far the new approach seems to be working. News Five was at St. John Vianney School this morning for an Education Week display.
The exhibition highlights the various methods of teaching that have been a part of the Level One Distance Education Program at the Belize Teacher’s College. The innovative program encourages learning through hands-on activities.
Ernilda Maheia, Teacher, St. John Vianney School
“One aspect in this corner is that they can use the puppet theatre where they can express themselves. They can pretend to be a certain character and role model using the puppets.”
The program also discourages teachers from always conducting lessons in front of the class. Instead they need to motivate students to get actively involved in their subjects.
Nellie Pook, Teacher, St. John Vianney School
“We are used to having the children seated by the table and working. By that children get frustrated; they get tired. But if you have them working in groups they become energetic and they want to learn.”
Alma Paredez, Teacher, St. John Vianney School
“The children are discovering things for themselves and we are not just there standing in front of them and two they are manipulating things and it is something that stays with them longer. “
Elizabeth Cardenas, Coordinator of the Resource and Information Day says the displays focus on the week’s theme: “Education reform now to meet the challenge of the twenty first century”.
Elizabeth Cardenas, Coordinator, Resource and Information Day
“They were working on various aspects in innovative practices in teaching and so we thought that we would just put it together by asking different organizations and departments to come and share their resources. This will link up to social studies and science. The students will move around from booth to booth and they are going to view the displays, ask questions and watch the videos. The teachers will do so also.”
Cardenas says five months after the program was introduced to the level one students, it is being successfully applied in these teachers’ classrooms. The teachers report the students are more cooperative and are learning the benefits of interdependence.
Today’s exhibition, which was hosted by St. John Vianney School, also had presentations by the Belize Audubon Society, the Coastal Zone Management, Fisheries, the Belize Tourism Board and Birds Without Borders.
