Maranyundo School

 

 

December 2022: Ready to Return to MGS!

Hello Everyone:

I am pleased to say that I am ready to return to the MGS campus! This time, I will be working with Headmistress Sister Laetitia, Sister Juvenal and Djamila Khamisi to support their work training teachers in Playful Engineering Based Learning (PEBL) a grant supported by the LEGO Foundation to prepare teachers to engage students in problem solving, literacy in Novel Engineering experiences, supported by the staff and faculty in the Tufts Center for Engineering Outreach (CEEO). I suggest you take a stroll down the Memory Lane of this Blog and review the entries when Sara Willner-gweric and I traveled to the school and introduced the Maker Space concept of STEM activities. Since then, the making pedagogy has been developing throughout the world. The LEGO Foundation grant is supporting educators from across the globe (as well as the USA!) to learn more about how to engage students of all ages in hands on learning and creative problem solving through Making.

Djamila came to Tufts and worked in the CEEO and Education Department at Tufts for 3 weeks. She has become an impressive STEM resource for the schools in the Bugasera district. I am looking forward to working with her as she embarks on the second stage of the PEBL trainings. Sister Laetitia and Sister Juvenal also recently had the chance to meet with me and others in Boston to discuss how the PEBL work can form the  basis for pedagogy in their schools.

Accompanying me on this trip is my colleague and friend, Joni Block. Joni and I have worked together over the years in several initiatives. She is an expert in early childhood and primary grade instruction. She has opened early childhood centers in Kenya. Joni will be supporting Djamila in the work with the primary teachers and touring early childhood and primary schools with Sister Juvenal. 

 It is wonderful to be returning to Rwanda after so many years of Zoom connections! I hope you enjoy accompanying me as I try to record the energy, enthusiasm and commitment of the teachers and students involved in the PEBL Project!

Linda V. Beardsley