Staff Reporter
ENVIRONMENTAL experts from around the world emphasised the need to incorporate ‘service learning’ into the school curriculum at a symposium in Doha yesterday.
Guest speakers from the US, India and Malaysia discussed ways to enhance community-based service learning with visiting teachers and educational experts from different countries.
The two-day symposium on Global Environmental Issues is jointly hosted by the American School of Doha (ASD), Reach Out To Asia (Rota) and HSBC.
Service learning is defined as a teaching method that involves learning and reflecting by combining classroom curriculum with meaningful service. It integrates community service with instruction to enrich the learning experience, teaches civic responsibility, encourages life-long civic management, and strengthens communities for the common good.
Judith Hallinen, director of the Leonard Gelfand Centre for Service Learning and Outreach at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania described some of the service learning programmes provided to students at CMU.
“Students at CMU-Qatar will also be doing service learning in Spring 2008, by visiting local schools, labour camps and other places,” said Hallinen, who has worked extensively to improve educational programmess for children in elementary and secondary schools in her region.
The head of Rotasia, Cherie Clark-Moore highlighted the community-based services her organisation has offered to students of Qatar and other countries, particularly rebuilding of a children’s school in Indonesia.
Cherie said Rota’s schools and universities are being “twinned” with educational institutions in Qatar, elsewhere in the Middle East and throughout Asia via an online Knowledge Network Portal. The website is www.reachouttoasia.org.
“It offers collaborative educational online projects for students and teachers, access to advice from online subject experts, cultural exchange projects, online discussion and communication, student-to-student and teacher-to-teacher mentoring and we encourage all schools to join in,” she said.
Kim White, a science teacher, anthropologist and naturalist based in India, talked about ways schools can organise expeditions.
“Three main components of a school field trip should be adventure, culture and community service,” said White.
White is the founder of ‘Into the Wild’, an NGO dedicated to culture and nature conservation through education and community service. Its website can be accessed at www.intothewild.org.
Ann Durham, a teacher of ASD, introduced the audience to an international organisation of teachers and students that addresses global issues.
The Global Issues Network encourages students to engage in ‘real’ issues, while allowing them to translate knowledge into positive action. Teachers can also refer to its site (www.global-issues-network.org) for curriculum-related material on a wide range of topics. |
