‘Picturing science’ explores PEC conference theme

Educators at the Pacific Educational Conference are learning new ways for their students to examine their local environment. The theme for this 21st annual conference, being held this week in Rota, is “Our Pacific Environment: Expanding the Vision—Literacy, Culture, and Technology.”

An excellent example of a program that explores this theme is the six-hour “Picturing Science” workshop. This workshop is teaching teachers how to combine science, photography, writing, art, and technology to help their students understand how to care for their Pacific island land and marine resources.

“This workshop aims to provide new perspectives on everyday things that we see in our environment,” said program presenter Kavita Rao, an instructional design specialist at Pacific Resources for Education and Learning in Honolulu. “Teachers can encourage students to use creative ways to analyze, synthesize, and present concepts about the world around them using images and words.”

Starting with essential science-based questions, students and teachers discuss issues, such as pollution or erosion, that deal with environment, culture, and change. These issues can be incorporated into other science units already being studied in class. After discussing the questions, students work in groups to answer their questions by taking digital photographs. Each picture they take should capture some key element of the question.

Later, students use a close-up of one of the photographic images and draw it using pastels. Finally, they are taught how to use words creatively to describe these photographic and art images. To give teachers ideas, Rao reads from some of the best science writing—for example, National Geographic magazine.

Rao believes that this approach can inspire students by showing them how photojournalists capture the world around them.

“We want students to become the photojournalists of their own islands, to be able to describe their local environment creatively in words and pictures,” she said.

Ma Hellena Jebehn, a kindergarten teacher at Garapan Elementary School in the CNMI, agrees. “This workshop is giving me a lot of help for my teaching,” she said. “Kids love hands-on exploration. I have gained some great ideas for integrating art into my lessons.”

Images and creative writing from “Picturing Science” workshops held for Pacific teachers are at www.prel.org/picturingscience.

More than 500 educators are attending this conference. More information about it is at www.prel.org/pec2004. (Nancy Lane)