15 Apr Expanding Opportunities in the Pacific
One of the more promising uses of technology in education is to provide opportunities to teachers and students in remote locations. This is the goal of the Pacific Education and Research for Leadership in Science (PEARLS) project, a five-year partnership with the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) that seeks to help middle-school students in Hawai‘i and other Pacific Islands learn more about scientific inquiry through the study of the local environment and about the kinds of careers available in science and technology.
CRDG’s Tom Scarlett has worked with the program since its inception, working with teachers in a series of workshops that teach them to use the inquiry method to teach science and to use their local environment in their lessons. Now in its third year, the project continued to work with teachers from Hawai‘i, American Sāmoa, Saipan, Yap, and Pohnpei, while adding new teachers from American Sāmoa, Guam, Rota, and Tinian.
In addition to the summer workshops, the teachers receive follow-up support through in-person classroom visits and additional training as well as online meetings.