IREX
International Research & Exchanges Board

US State Dept.

International Leaders in Education Program (ILEP)

Program News

Host Universities and Schools

Filipina Teacher Strives to Improve Physics Education in Her Country
July 12, 2010

Returning to the Phillipines after a five-month professional development program in the United States, high school physics teacher Ana Espejo Mirana was determined to improve science education in her country. According to Mirana, a 2008-2009 International Leaders in Education Program (ILEP) alumna, students from the Philippines lag behind their international counterparts in science due in part to a lack of classroom materials and well-prepared instructors. Of the 35 physics teachers in the Camarines Sur province, for example, only five hold a college degree in physics.

 

To combat these obstacles, Mirana designed and led a five-day professional development workshop attended by all 30  of the less qualified teachers, backed by local school principals, the regional society of physics teachers, and the Camarines Sur State Agricultural College and supported with ILEP small grant funds.

A needs assessment conducted by Mirana and her colleague showed that teachers without a physics degree felt least confident in teaching electricity and magnetism, so she tailored the workshop around these topics. The workshop combined discussions of misconceptions surrounding each physics topic, demonstrations of teaching strategies, and the construction of lab equipment from everyday materials. The teachers left the workshop with the skills to build a variety of devices, including an electromagnet, a parallel circuit, and a simple electric motor, for hands-on demonstrations in class. In addition, Mirana introduced the constructivist teaching strategy, in which students are trained to take initiative to actively build new knowledge rather than memorize facts.

Five intense days of training showed immediate results among the teachers. Pre and post-tests found that teachers’ scores on knowledge of electricity and magnetism concepts rose between 30% and 60% after the workshop. One participant told Mirana, “I will not . . . skip topics in physics which I do not know how to teach and don’t understand well.” As each of the 30 participating teachers have 50 to 55 students, the workshop will impact the education of 1,500 students in this school year alone.
 
Mirana continues to work with local physics teachers, visiting their classrooms to observe them apply new teaching strategies and equipment. She intends to research student test scores on electricity and magnetism in order to gauge the effects of her workshop, and plans to apply for another grant to conduct more workshops on additional physics concepts.

During her ILEP exchange, Mirana spent five months auditing graduate level classes at Kent State University in Ohio and team-teaching with a U.S. teacher during an internship at a local high school. The experience exposed Ana Mirana to new teaching techniques and increased her confidence and leadership skills. She continues to stay in touch with fellow ILEP alumni she met at Kent State through monthly Skype conferences, sharing experiences and best practices across countries as diverse as Brazil, Senegal, Jordan, and Bangladesh.

Ana Mirana and her fellow physics teachers demonstrate the power of teacher leadership to improve education. Her initiative has improved teachers’ understanding and supplied classrooms with equipment, affecting hundreds of students and strengthening physics education in the Philippines.

The International Leaders in Education Program (ILEP) is a semester-long, graduate-level academic program at U.S. universities. It includes coursework and intensive training in teaching methodologies, curriculum development, and the use of technology for education for outstanding secondary teachers from the Near East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America. ILEP is a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State and is administered by IREX.  

Quotes from US Teachers Who Worked with ILEP Fellows in Bozeman, Montana

Fellows in the Press (external links)

MIA Link is the outcome of a small grant project which followed the International Educators’ Program 2006-07, sponsored by the US Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The magazine has been created under the initiative of the alumni of the program, from three different parts of the globe: Priya Jayakrishnan from Chennai, India, Bouchra Arrif from Casablanca, Morocco and Maureen Boland from Philadelphia, USA and will be maintained by the students of Padma Sarangapani school, Chennai, India, Houssein Ben Ali High School, Casablanca, Morocco and Parkway Centre City High School, Philadelphia, USA.

Teachers using Internet More Efficiently = T.I.M.E” Workshop Assists Teachers in Egypt to use Internet in Creating their Lesson Plans

ILEP-07 alumni Iman Ibrihim, biology teacher from Elnaggar Experimental Secondary School and her internship hosts Shana Kight, Science Teacher and Leanne Thele Science Teacher from Jackson Jr. High School, Missouri planned and conducted a four-day teacher training workshop on April 6-9, 2009 for 50 teachers from El Naggar Experimental School, Alexandria and the surrounding schools in the area. Though initially the workshop was designed for secondary school teachers it was expanded and included teachers from both pre-primary and primary school teachers.

The main objectives of the T.I.M.E. workshop were to train participants in cooperative learning methodologies and to enable them to use Internet for teaching purpose. The workshop started with ice-breakers such as “The Name Game” and “Find Someone Who” that got the participants to work in groups and brought the message that group work as part of the cooperative learning can be used creatively to conduct different portions of a daily lesson. Following the icebreaker through highly interactive sessions the U.S. collaborators provided the participants with strategies on how to create lesson plans that would incorporate Internet and technology. The teachers learned about the Science Websites in the T.I.M.E. packet and how to use them in the classroom. The workshop was infused with various Cooperative Learning activities such as Think Pair Share, Fan N Pick, and Round Robin.  The exercises and related activities were carefully chosen to build the teachers skills to use them in their classrooms with their students to engage them in active learning process. Part of the participants’ assignments was to use the provided materials to develop at least one activity/strategy that they can implement right away in their classroom. The teachers were very excited to receive the entire packet of websites by topic so that no matter the content, they would have a place to get lesson plans, web quests, classroom activity ideas, and other internet teaching strategies.  Using the workshop material each representative of the area schools will deliver a similar workshop in their own schools thus benefiting several hundred teachers and around 2000 students in the in the El Naggar area. “Using the websites in teaching (was beneficial) I will apply the cooperative activities in my next classes… I will organize a workshop to share them (the teachers) the new activities” said one of the workshop participants. 

The Workshop on 5E Lesson Design (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate) help the teachers in India improve their lesson planning skills.

Traditionally, science teachers in Indian schools use theoretical and lecture/drill based methods to teach science concepts. Even laboratory experiences are typically “hands-on” rather than inquiry-based. Students are evaluated on the achievement of factual knowledge and application of concepts to problems modeled and drilled in class. The use of higher order critical thinking skills is seldom, if ever, used to challenge students to think creatively. 

Priyadarshini Jayakrishnan the Principal of Padma Sarangapani Higher Secondary school, Chennai, India together with her US collaborator Mary Jo Grdina Associate Clinical Professor, Drexel University School of Education undertook a three-phase project that would help to provide training to 50 teachers from 20 schools in incorporating Inquiry based instruction in teaching Science Curriculum. This project was designed to introduce Indian science teachers to current research findings on how students learn science and explore together how inquiry-based instruction can be incorporated into the rigid curriculum. This was done in the framework of Backward Design, the 5E Lesson Model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate), and Higher Order Critical Thinking.

During the first phase a three-day workshop was conducted on June 15-17, 2009 for city science teachers. The days were designed to include interactive presentations and to model current researched-based practices. The teachers were first introduced to the results of the National Research Council’s report on How People Learn and the implications for all teachers. They were challenged to face their own misconceptions and to explore the importance of and ways for identifying student pre- or misconceptions. On the second day, the teachers were led through a 5E Lesson Design (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate) using mirrors and laser pointers and only after they had gone through the experience was the model explained. Groups of teachers, divided by subject area, designed a 5E Lesson appropriate for their classes. On the third day, the importance of putting these lessons into the framework of clearly defined goals and assessments that address higher order critical thinking skills was addressed.

During the next three days -- the second phase of the project-- a mentoring approach was taken to support the science teachers of Padma Sarangapani Schools to further design lessons and activities. This included class visitations, small group work with teachers, student interviews, and teaching demonstrations. During the third phase the teachers implemented and evaluated the lesson plans that they designed as a result of the workshop. The US collaborator provided feedback to the lesson designs and implementation. A podcast for educational administrators was produced that explained the goals of the project and asked for their support of these initiatives. Teachers have been encouraged to keep open communication with the collaborator while seeking ways to initiate more creative approaches to teaching. The project will impact about 3000 students in the participating teachers’ classrooms.

“I have learned that teachers across the world are facing the same challenges as we prepare the next generation to face life’s challenges. We may dress differently and feel differently about teaching methods, but we all desire the best for our students, our countries, and our world” said Mary Jo Grdina.

 

    Mary Jo Grdina
Dr. Mary Jo Grdina with workshop participants in India                      

Below are the links of two articles published in newspapers in India that highlighted the workshop’s impact.

Siti Zulfah Sulaiman, ILEP Alumni from Indonesia, posts YouTube video of photos and memories of her time in the United States.

Mamoun Alzoubi, ILEP Alumni from Jordan, meets Queen Raina of Jordan.  Mamoun writes: “Last Sunday was a memorable day in the history of Education in Jordan as Her Majesty Queen Rania launched Queen Rania Teacher Academy. This academy is the first in Jordan concerned with training new teachers for four months before they join their schools. In this official launch, I was honored to stand in front of Her Majesty the Queen and talk about my teaching experience. I emphasized the difficulties that I underwent with my students and how the ILEP program that I joined in the United States helped me to develop my methods of teaching. It was really a great experience for me.”

eaching is Neuroscience – see this interesting article for an overview of the brain science behind adult learning as it relates to professional development for teachers.

ROTC

ILEP Fellows Visit ROTC Training Center
Soma Banerjee (ILEP fellow from India) reports that her internship high school in Kentucky has students in ROTC. Soma and some other ILEP fellows had the opportunity to go to the ROTC department to observe trainings and talk with the students enrolled in the ROTC program.

Seeing the interest of the ILEP fellows in the ROTC program, two Majors invited the fellows to accompany the team to the training camp. The arrived at school at 5:30AM to board the bus for the camp. Along with students from area high schools, the ILEP Fellows took part in various events ranging from a decathlon to map reading.

Soma says “it was a no doubt a hard day, but it was a totally new experience.”

Governor

governor

ILEP Fellows Meet With Governors of Kentucky and Montana
ILEP Fellows studying at Montana State University and Northern Kentucky University had the opportunity to meet with the state Governor. 

In Montana, ILEP Fellows visited the capital in Helena and met with Governor Brian Schweitzer in his conference room in the Capitol building. The meeting was intended to be a short 15 minute introduction of the Fellows to the Governor. But as they sat around the conference table, the discussion was so animated and interesting that the Governor spent more than an hour with the ILEP Fellows. Gov. Schweitzer has travelled and lived abroad extensively, including having visited and worked in several of the countries represented by the Fellows. He shared some of his impressions of stepping out of one's own culture and trying to fit in and learn somewhere new.  He has also visited and worked in several of the countries represented by the Fellows, so he had specific things to say to some. Gov. Schweitzer asked Jesus Belandria about the political situation in Venezuela, and they discussed the "love him or hate him" nature of politics.  In regards to Morocco, Mariam Bedraoui talked about how she thinks it is important for Americans to realize that most Muslims are just like anyone else, and that Islam takes many forms.  The Governor shared some of his experiences living in Saudi Arabia to agree with her and emphasize the point that it's important for everyone to be exposed to different ways of thinking and living.

In Kentucky, ILEP Fellows assembled with a small gathering of distinguished guests in the Northern Kentucky University Union Ballroom to welcome Governor Steve Beshear. Fellows had the opportunity to ask questions directly to Gov. Beshear after formal introductions. Gov. Beshear happily posed for a photo with the Fellows, who report that it was a wonderful experience. 

Mouhamadou Sadibou Diouf, a current ILEP fellow from Senegal, publishes article in Senegalese English teaching journal. Download PDFpdf

ILEP Alumnae and U.S. Collaborator Deliver 14 Teacher Training Workshops in India
Anitha Nair, an ILEP alumnae from India, collaborated with Margaret Waterman, a US professor of teacher education, to develop four different 1.5-hour long workshops on active learning techniques. During October 2008, Nair and Waterman delivered 14 workshop sessions over period of seven days around Kerala, reaching over 100 teachers from every discipline and every grade level in southwestern India. Some workshops were geared specifically for science teachers, others were more generalized for a diverse audience of teachers. Nair and Waterman integrated the active learning techniques that were the subject of the workshops into their workshop delivery style, so that participants could experience this style of learning and teaching first-hand. The workshop designers also asked teachers to commit to using one of the techniques they learned during their next week of teaching.

ILEP Alumnus Holds Conference on Project-Based Learning in Morocco
Bouchra Arif, an ILEP alumna from Morocco, collaborated with Gamal Sherif, a U.S. teacher, to organize a three-day conference in Casablanca designed to address teacher preparation and enthusiasm. The organizers wanted to foster a sense of inquiry and collaboration among teachers by modeling effective project-based learning as a curricular strategy to enrich students’ learning. More than thirty teachers gathered for the conference, where they examined leadership and learning styles. Teachers reviewed the theory of multiple intelligences, and in order to develop a shared sense of the “aims of education,” conference designers asked teachers to design and draw their ideal school. The workshop continued with teachers engaging in collaborative project-based planning for a typical Moroccan English language curriculum. Participants were enthusiastic about the collaborative planning process, and agreed that they would like to meet again to continue working and learning together.

fellow

Jordanian ILEP fellow joins the national team of curricula design for the National Institute of Education
Mamoun AlZoubi, Jordanian ILEP fellow, recently joined the national team of curricula design for the National Institute of Education in Jordan. With support from the teachers' colleges at Columbia University in the United States and Yarmouk University in Jordan, the team will design teacher training materials for new teachers in Jordan. Their work will begin in January 2010. The team enjoyed a four-day intensive workshop in The King's Academy in July 2008. Mamoun AlZoubi wrote to other ILEP fellows about the team, saying "I think we are shouldering a great responsibility which will make a turning point in the process of training teachers in Jordan. I will keep you informed about this new experience."

Quotes from ILEP 2007-2008 Internship Host Teachers

fellow

“My students have such a difficult time making world connections when they read. This experience helped to make them open up to other things going on in the world. Their world became much larger than their own community. All students and teachers could benefit from this type of shared learning experience.”

-Sharlett Eftink
Jackson R-2 School District
Jackson, Missouri

“Through this experience I learned to have more appreciation for the American opportunities --- but understand that our excesses don't necessarily guarantee a life of higher quality than life in poorer, less materialistic societies.”  

-Gail L. S. Meinke
 Lakewood High School
 Lakewood, Ohio


“I was very fortunate to work with two extremely talented ILEP fellows who observed and taught in several teachers’ classrooms. They did an excellent job of teaching our students the subject matter, and they also gave us teachers a valuable opportunity to discuss and compare our methods, practices, and educational systems. We all gained a great deal in our understanding of one another's countries and culture. I believe this program provides a unique opportunity for teachers to gain perspective about the world and about teaching.”

-Francine Lasley
 Shaker Heights City Schools
 Shaker Heights, Ohio


“The experience of hosting an ILEP teacher was splendorous. The positive impact it had on my students is super!”

-Ms. Sherry Taylor
 Screven County High School
 Sylvania, Georgia


“My ILEP teacher brought literature from her country and shared it with my students. We gave students copies of different poems and explained similarities and differences between them. Every opportunity that we could, we would compare learning/teaching styles with the students to make them more aware of the similarities and differences between our countries.”

-Sharlett Eftink
Jackson R-2 School District
Jackson, Missouri


“The students who were fortunate enough to participate with the ILEP teacher gained experiences that helped them to understand cultural similarities and differences. They repeatedly made connections for the rest of the year between our educational expectations and the other countries' educational expectations. Their awareness was noticeably different from students who did not have the same opportunities to interact with the ILEP teacher.”

-Sharlett Eftink
Jackson R-2 School District
Jackson, Missouri