Science Education Projects in Guatemala - ACS Publications

Chapter 5

Science Education Projects in Guatemala Regina M. Malczewski* Downloaded by UNIV OF FLORIDA on November 12, 2017 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date (Web): October 23, 2017 | doi: 10.1021/bk-2017-1268.ch005

*E-mail:

[email protected].

With the assistance of a grant from the American Chemical Society, private donations and logistical support from HELPS International, three teacher workshops have been developed and conducted in Guatemala over a 2.5 year period. Formats have been consistently hands-on and feedback has been positive. Although it is too early to verify long-term benefit, these efforts show the receptiveness of the audience, the challenge represented by teachers of minimal background, and the utility of simple and practical lessons for engaging educators and students at various levels.

Introduction Guatemala is a country of contrasts that has endured a brutal internal conflict and is facing many internal challenges. Education and equality are among the goals that will allow Guatemala to conquer its past and create its future. This chapter describes some efforts to improve teacher science education in Guatemala, with emphasis on the rural town of Santa Avelina, where the local language is Ixil and the people are of Mayan descent. Guatemala (Figure 1) has a young population (the largest segment is 0-14 yr) due to its high population growth rate (1). Although it is the largest country in Central America, the Guatemalan per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is 50% of others in the region. Significant gains in GDP growth rate have been made since 2000, and poverty rates declined between 2000 and 2006, but in 2016, 59% of the population was living below the poverty line, with 23% subsisting in extreme poverty. More than half of the Guatemalan population is rural, and about 40% is indigenous Mayan. The latter has been and continues to be disproportionately impacted by political, health and developmental challenges. There are 23 officially recognized Indian dialects in Guatemala, but even in remote areas, children are learning Spanish, the official language (1, 2).

© 2017 American Chemical Society Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

Downloaded by UNIV OF FLORIDA on November 12, 2017 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date (Web): October 23, 2017 | doi: 10.1021/bk-2017-1268.ch005

Figure 1. Map of Guatemala showing Ixil Triangle. Courtesy of the Center for Environmental Studies and Biodiversity (CEAB), University of the Valley of Guatemala. When the Spanish conquered the Mayans in Guatemala in 1523 and again when Guatemala achieved its independence from Spain in 1821, pressure was placed on indigenous peoples to assimilate into the culture of the elite ruling class. The authoritarian government practiced exclusionary policies that promoted violence against the majority. During the 36-year civil war (1960-1996), 200,000 Guatemalans disappeared or were killed; 83% of these were Mayan (3). Over 400 massacres [defined as “collective murders associated with community destruction” in reference (3) (REMHI project). An even narrower definition: “collective murders with community destruction” results in a count of 422.] occurred during the war as part of the government’s policy to extinguish insurgency (4). Between March, 1982 and August, 1983, the Ixil triangle (where Santa Avelina is located, near San Juan Cotzal in Figure 1) was the nexus of the terror, where 70-90% of the local villages were destroyed and 5.5% of the population was killed. These actions have been officially labeled genocide (5). Many of the surviving women have struggled with economic hardships, increased responsibilities, and inter-family conflicts, in addition to grief and loss (4). Today it is not uncommon for Guatemalan children to leave school to help support their families, and girls on average attend less school than boys, who typically attend to the age of 11. Only 30% of indigenous girls attend secondary school, and these girls are the group most at-risk for chronic poverty (6). In 1981, during some of the worst years of the civil war, Steve Miller, CEO of Dillon Gage, visited the Ixil area in response to a government invitation to external 68 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.


investors. Steve and Paul Townsend (a Guatemalan translator) co-founded HELPS International in 1984, based in Dallas, TX.Their initial efforts to help widows and provide dental care in Guatemala have expanded to include stove and water filter installations, agronomic support, medical clinics and educational assistance (7). The latter began when HELPS offered literacy classes in Santa Avelina, about 17 miles (1 hour’s drive) east of Nebaj; after great success, the elders of the village requested Miller open a school there. The William C. Botnan Experimental School was built in 1996 to house four grades (8). It has now grown to include classes from pre-K to grade 6. Many students who attend this school receive financial support to do so; the scholarship program run by HELPS has also extended to students who attend higher education outside Santa Avelina. The Botnan School is one of many in the network of private institutions that help address the scarcity of public schools, especially in rural areas (9). Part of the HELPS effort to maintain quality education at the Botnan School has been teacher in-service training; at two such workshops in 2016 and 2017, hands-on science was offered to Botnan educators as well as others in the area. In 2017, in response to an invitation from the University of Guatemala del Valle in Altiplano, an additional all-day teacher workshop was conducted for educators there.

Education in Guatemala Primary education in Guatemala is free and compulsory for ages 7-13, but public schools are scarce and school quality often poor in the mountainous areas of the country where indigenous people predominate. Many children do not complete the three years of “basico” secondary school, which is followed by “diversificado” or specialized education. There are also some vocational schools. Two million eligible Guatemalans do not attend school, and most of these are female. The literacy rate is overall 81.5 % (but is lower for girls), (1), and Indian populations attend school for about half the number of years that other groups do (2). Reported primary school attendance figures (based on the number of children eligible to attend) are often greater than 100% due to repeat students and under- or over-age children present in primary classes. For example, 2% of the students in 4th grade nationwide are 15 years old (the age at which one type of standard assessment testing is done), but only 33% of the 15 yr olds are in school by the last year of secondary instruction (when that age should be highly respresented) (10). Regular attendance is also an issue. Only 59.2% of Guatemalans complete secondary school (6). There are not many recent data available on the status of general science education in Guatemala, because there is little consistent national assessment, and Guatemala typically has not participated in international evaluations like TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study), and PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) (11). Guatemala is currently making good progress in a “capacity building plan” to perform a PISA-like evaluation, however (10) , since assessment is believed to be helpful in identifying successful educational methods. Only 60% of Guatemalans speak Spanish, 69 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.


the official language; the others speak one of 23 indigenous (mostly Mayan) languages (9). Especially in the lower grades, rural children are transitioning from instruction in an Indian language to lessons in Spanish, and the language capabilities of their teachers influence their success, in the classroom as well as on assessments (offered in Spanish). Few instructional materials, if any, are available in indigenous languages; some of the latter have only oral traditions. Guatemalan education overall is considered substandard (6), and a 2013 TERCE (Third Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study) assessment shows many deficiencies. As reported by the World Bank (2), “Educational achievement in Guatemala is among the worst in the Western Hemisphere, excepting Haiti...and low achievement may appear along with high inequality.” After the peace accords in 1996, reforms were initiated to increase funding, obtain greater participation in education, expand opportunities, and include Mayan culture and language in the curriculum, but these and other initiatives seem to have resulted in few changes in the classroom, although progress has been made. (12, 13). Of performance results obtained for 3rd and 6th grade reading, writing and mathematics in the 2013 TERCE, only 6th grade writing results were equivalent to the regional average; natural science scores for 6th grade (the only grade tested) were also well below the 50th percentile. Science questions tested knowledge in health (body structure and function), the diversity and characteristics of living beings, interactions between people and the environment, properties of matter and types of energy (14). Because detailed questionnaires were completed in parallel with performance assessments, factors with significant impacts on results are being teased from the test data. The first is financial; Guatemala spends 3% of its GDP on education, putting it 139th in the world (1). Classrooms are inadequately supplied, especially in the rural areas where the author visited. Public schools lack computers as well as wi-fi access. Students may drop out because their parents cannot afford school supplies, or they may be removed from school to contribute to family resources by working in the fields. Other factors impacting educational success for students include the availability of reading materials at home, parental education levels, and parental encouragement (15). School-related factors include teacher quality, especially in indigenous schools (16). A lack of highly trained educators (especially for technological topics) is also a problem; to teach in Guatemala in primary grades, one has only to complete the equivalent of high school. Just 30% of Guatemalan teachers have tertiary education (12), and teachers in indigenous schools may be less experienced (16). Some schools have multiple grades in one classroom (16). While in-service training is available, quality is not consistent, content may be more government news than teaching method-oriented, and one report says attendance is poor (17). Some data indicate that in-class effective instructional hours may also be much lower than the school calendar dictates, which is already below standards set in Asia and Europe (12). There is much evidence of the lower quality of indigenous public education compared to non-Mayan (16), although interestingly enough, at least one study shows that children attending Mayan “middle schools” (aged 11-18) scored higher in reading skills and mathematics than those attending non-Mayan schools, presumably because the feeling of 70 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.


mastery obtained from achieving skills in two cultures (Mayan and Spanish) promotes more learning in general (18). The Guatemalan curriculum is not nationally cohesive, and is difficult to piece together from information provided by the Ministry of Education. Teaching methods are primarily lecture, using little inquiry and, in science, minimal if any hands-on (12). During the first workshop in Guatemala, the author was told by those in attendance as well as interpreters that many had never seen a thermometer of any kind in person, indicating the dearth of science-related supplies. The Botnan school has microscopes, but the instructions are missing. The digital weather station with internet access purchased for the school and set up during the first workshop was still not collecting data when the author returned a year later; the situation was corrected. The Botnan school, as a private school, is more fortunate than most public institutions relative to it supplies, and it has computer curriculum taught by a teacher dedicated to this subject. Organizing the supplies and maintaining instructions as well as equipment are separate issues, however.

The Need for Science Edcuation in Guatemala Based on 2012 data, a large portion of the research and development (R&D) in Guatemala occurs at academic institutions and that portion has been growing (19). The percentage of GDP used for R&D declined from 2007-2012 to less than 0.1% (versus 2.5% in the US), but a considerable amount of financial research support has been coming from outside the country, and the US is the most frequent collaborator for publications with Guatemalan authors. R&D employs only 50 researchers for every million inhabitants in Guatemala (versus 4000 in the US) (20). Of the eighty countries assessed by US News and World Report in its “Best Countries” study for 2017, Guatemala was rated #80 for Entrepreneurship, based on evaluations for innovation, legal framework, education and skilled labor force, transparent business practices, global connectivity and infrastructure. Labor force skills were rated a “0” (21). Guatemala ranked 15th out of the 19 Latin American countries in patent applications between 2009 and 2013 (20). These facts represent significant challenges to the development of high value science and technology in Guatemala, but there is also evidence of some progress: Guatemala exported over $211 MM of high technology products in 2014; these include aerospace materials, computers, pharmaceuticals, scientific instruments, and electrical machinery. This number has been showing steady and significant growth since 2006 (22). A 2006 study reported that over 70% of employers in Guatemala have insufficient skilled labor (23), so demand exists for those with motivation to stay in school and specialize. Furthermore, it has been determined that secondary schooling in Guatemala offers the advantage of a12.4% increase in earning potential over just completing primary, and 11.2% for tertiary over upper secondary (females usually seeing more) (23). The University of Guatemala del Valle has an emphasis on STEM (Science, Technoloogy, Enginnering and Math) 71 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.


with training workshops offered intermittently (24), and in Guatemala City an industrial park called “The Tec” was completed in 2012, employing young people in computer jobs such as video game and special effect generation, and software development (25, 26). These examples show increased interest in STEM fields, and evidence that efforts are being made to promote education and employment in those areas. Guatemala’s top 10 exports in 2016 included pharmaceuticals (up almost 50% in the five-year period since 2011), petroleum, food oils, beverages, and plastics, all of which require chemists and engineers (27). Agricultural science is the second most-funded area of Guatemalan research and devlopment, and as an agriculture-based economy (13.6% of GDP employing 31% of the labor force (1)), Guatemala stands to gain substantially from better land use management. USAID says there is “tremendous potential” for growth in Guatemalan agriculture, and that it is recognized as “leader in non-traditional agriculture exports in Central America” (28). A focus on agronomy (including the in-country HELPS-based effort) will help Guatemala achieve food security and increased employment. Sustainable growth in Guatemala and the reduction of poverty depend on improved science and tehcnolgy education.

Project Objective and Goals The Year 1 project objective (2016) was to provide a high-quality in-service opportunity for all educators we could reach, so that teachers could immediately use their learnings to enrich and enhance science education in their classrooms. Goals were: 1) to successfully and safely conduct and discuss hands-on experiments on curriculum topics in a non-threatening atmosphere so that teachers gained confidence in doing them and saw value enough to commit to trying them, and 2) to obtain periodic reports from the school to find the teachers had used the experiments and the other tools given (weather station, supplies, and posters, for example) and determine what further assistance was needed to keep the program sustainable. The Year 2 objective in Santa Avelina (at the Botnan School) was to provide a clinic where selected experiments from the original set used in 2016 could be modified,re-taught and then practiced with audiences. The goals were to increase teacher familiarity with the material and overcome impediments to its use in the classroom, as evidenced by their documented intention to apply what they learned. The objective of the Altiplano workshop (Year 2) was to provide an hands-on training opportunity for educators that would provide ideas they could transfer relatively easily to their classrooms to enhance their science teaching. Goals were 1) acceptance of the experiments as relevant, motivating and enriching, and 2) feedback that teachers intended to do them with students.

72 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

Project Implementation


Year 1 (2016) at the Botnan School Hands-on experiments were developed for a 4.5-day workshop, with content based on the best information available about the Guatemalan curriculum; these were translated into Spanish, with a format like an experimental procedure. They dealt with basic chemistry, biology and physical science concepts; the list of all 27 are shown in Table 1, along with a correlation to grade level concepts shared afterward by the principal (Table 2). Experiments were also chosen to be relevant to everyday life; water and weather were expected to be of great interest, for example.Experiments explaining how to build and use crude weather-related instruments were included just to provide an alternative way to collect data that could then be compared to that acquired digitally on the AcuRite weather station that had been donated to the school.

Table 1. Experiments Written for Guatemalan Teacher Training (2016) Number

Title

Concept

1

Observations and Measurements

Observing, describing, units and sensitivity of measurements, quantitative and qualitative

2

Measurement with Time

Using thermometers to measure heat vs. time; graphing

3

Mixtures

Colors, following directions, mixtures (that are not reactions)

4

Separation of Colors of the Rainbow

thin layer chromatography; mixtures can be separated back out

5

Separation using a coffee filter

separation of all water-based colors using diffusion; art integration

6

States of Matter

7

Properties of Matter: Solubility and Reactivity

Dissolving baking soda in water (and recrystallizing) vs. reacting with vinegar

8

Polarity and Hydrophobicity

using treated sand, how materials repel water (nonpolar) or attract it (polar)

9

Density

differences in density of liquids (making a column)

10

Properties of Water: Surface Tension

Polarity of water and hydrogen bonding; Surface tension as a force caused by attraction of water molecules

11

Properties of Water: Acids and Bases

Testing of liquids with homemade cabbage juice indicator Continued on next page.



Table 1. (Continued). Experiments Written for Guatemalan Teacher Training (2016) Number

Title

Concept

12

Purification of Water: Aeration and Sedimentation

Using a model “dirty water”, removal of volatile and dense contaminants

13

Purification of Water: Filtration and Distillation

Separation by filtration using different media, and distillation using beaker and pie pan

14

Energy Transformations

Solar energy, hand warmers, Potato clock (measuring temperature changes with warmers using an IR thermometer)

15

Anemometer

wind speed measurement using cups and pencils, straws (to compare to weather station)

16

Barometer

air pressure measured using a jar and balloon (to compare with weather station)

17

Hygrometer

humidity measured with hair, a board, plastic piece, dime (to compare with weather station)

18

Climate models

climate vs temperature; measuring temperatures of different compartments (land, water, air) in large jars

19

Air pressure

demonstrations of air pressure with water, paper and with the collapse of a soda (air pressure is lower than water pressure)

20

Bernoulli effect

low air pressure and high pressure areas are responsible for air movement

21

Marshmallows

how changes in pressure, volume and temperature are interrelated

22

Making Gas

how the ratio of reactants can affect reactants; measuring the outcome of reactions, making a gas from a solid and a liquid

23

Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide displaces oxygen, is denser than oxygen

24

Light

Interactions with matter: reflection, refraction, absorption, transmission

25

Luminescence and Sunscreens

Fluorescence, phosphorescence, chemiluminescence, UV light, how sunscreens work (health)

26

Microbiology

Using gelatin to show bacteria and fungi are everywhere, some place more than others.

27

Glo-Germ and Hand-washing

Using a luminescent powder to demonstrate passing “germs” between people and from objects to people, and demonstrate good hand washing technique



Table 2. Correlation of Curriculum and Experiments, by Grade (where information was made available) GRADE

Curriculum Concepts

2016 Experiment

pre K and K

(not provided)

Probably 1,3, 5

1

Five senses

Observations and Measurements (#1)

Colors/odors of materials

Observations and Measurements (1), and 3, 4, 5 (Mixtures, Rainbow separation, coffee filters)

3 states of matter

States of Matter (with water, #6)

states of matter

6

physical properties

1, 9 (density), 10 (surface tension of water)

moon phases, weather, Earth characteristics

weather station, (15-20,weatehr instruments, air pressure) climate models

cells

microscope, growing bacteria (26)

five senses

1

rain, snow, clouds

6 (states of matter)

water

6

recycling

12. 13 (purification of water)

3 states of matter

6, 22 (making a gas)

mass

9

energy

14 (energy transformations)

5

(not provided); scientific method, energy as stated in Reference (20)

14, throughout

6

physical changes

6

chemical changes

22, 11 (acids and bases)

Mass, thermal energy

2 (time and temperature)

properties

8, 10, 9, 23 (carbon dioxide)

reflection of light, etc.

24, 25 (light and luminescence)

Hygiene

27 (hand-washing)

2

3

4

General



Introductory concepts like the structure and prevalence of chemicals and the electromagnetic spectrum, were given prior to each lesson as appropriate. Supplies were listed in detail in each procedure, and all were left behind or easily obtained locally. (An example of a procedure is provided in English in Appendix 1.) Lessons were printed out to give to teachers, with an agenda, vocabulary list and some Spanish language video resource links. A digital copy was also left behind with the computer teacher. A $1000 American Chemical Society (ACS) Global Innovation Grant, along with donations from churches and others local to the author were used to purchase supplies. The author self-funded travel and other arrangements made through HELPS International with the help of Cheryl Weeks-Rosten who runs the scholarship and in-service programs for the Botnan school. The author had been made aware of in-service opportunities through two earlier trips to Santa Avelina as part of a HELPS stove team. Besides Cheryl, the in-service team also included a US-based native Spanish speaker who did the written translations, helped with donations, and assisted with verbal translation during the workshop. The supplies were gathered and organized by experiment in large ZiplocTM bags which were divided up among four large suitcases,two of which were left behind. Delta Airlines gave the group two humanitarian exemptions for free bags (a non-profit can apply for these once per year). Perishables were purchased from a list given to local HELPS personnel in Guatemala. Attendees included 12 teachers from the Botnan school (grades pre-K to 6), educators from a nearby institute, and some teachers from a local public school for a total of 20, though not all were present the entire time. The lessons were presented with the assistance of three translators, two of whom were in-country, arranged by HELPS, and obtaining credit toward their five-year university program in Translation and Interpretation. Teaching was done from 8:30 in the morning to about 4 pm with short breaks morning and afternoon and an hour for lunch (provided for all attendees at the school). Supplies for each experiment (one at a time) were set on all four tables where the educators sat in groups and followed verbal instructions given by the author. The scientific method was heavily stressed throughout all presentations, and hypotheses were requested from the participants at every opportunity. At the end of the workshop, attendees were asked to fill out a feedback form; the collated results (responses and associated numbers) are given in English in Appendix 2. After the workshop, the supplies were reorganized into suitcases for storage. Many non-Botnan attendees requested supply donations or access to supplies; the Botnan principal told them arrangements could be made for supply loan-out by contacting her. A Botnan School teacher was placed in charge of the supplies. During the year between the two Santa Avelina workshops, communication with the Botnan School principal established that three of the experiments had been done in the classroom, some in more than one grade, but the bulk of the lessons had not be conducted with the children. The correlation grid was done to show the connection between subjects in the curriculum and the experiments; the decision was made to follow up with teaching clinics to increase teacher confidence levels rather than introduce new material the following year. 76 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

Year 2 (2017)


The Botnan School Invitations were again extended to the local institute and nearby public schools to attend the workshop in January 2017. The week chosen for the workshop was 7 days later than in 2016, still during the break before the new school year starts. No other teachers outside the Botnan school participated, although they had indicated they would attend during the planning process; this was a disappointment. The workshop did not suffer, however, and in fact, the fewer, more familiar attendees may have allowed the Botnan educators to be comfortable taking risks, since they were asked to be much more involved. Six lessons were chosen from the 27 developed for 2016; some of these were combinations or modifications of theorginals. For example, experiments 3,4 and 5 were combined; the purple mixture made in Experiment 3 was concentrated, and instead of separation by thin-layer chormatography (Experiment 4), it was used for coffee filter analysis alongside Vis-a-VisTM pens (Experiment 5). The purple Visa-Vis pen does not separate into components, so comparison to the concentrated mixture provided evidence that similar colors from different sources can be made of different materials. Other eperiments were also changed to clarify concepts and/or expand on some themes (#22, for example.) Background and summary sections were also added to all the experiments re-taught in 2017; these had not been written up the first year (although they were discussed) to encourage listening and note-taking. Several of the lessons could be used in some form for multiple grade levels. Five days (8:30-4:30, with breaks as above) were structured so that each of the six lessons were done four times,all hands-on. The first time, the author taught the Botnan faculty; for the second, children of an appropriate grade level who lived nearby (off for the holidays) were recruited to participate with the author teaching. The third iteration involved a chosen teacher leading the lesson for an audience of Botnan faculty (and receiving critique afterward), and the last involved a selected educatorteaching volunteer children from a target grade level. The scientific method was stressed throughout. It was gratifying to see the teachers internalize the lessons and become more comfortable with the concepts. The children were shy but also warmed to the lessons; they apparently enjoyed the hands-on and all were given stickers (made from scratch, in Spanish) for their participation. The biggest challenge was the younger children (K-1 and perhaps beyond) who were not yet fluent in Spanish; their teachers could communicate in Ixil (the local dialect) but the translators could not. At the end of the workshop, teachers completed feedback forms as before; results are shown in Appendix 3.



University of Guatemala del Valle at Altiplano Dr. Adrián Francisco Gil Méndez, Dean of the Faculty of Sciences and Humanities at the University of Guatemala del Valle (UVG) was an in-country contact for the 2016 ACS-funded workshop. He did not attend the program, but had contacts at the institute and met with the teaching team after the workshop was over, at which time he extended an invitation to give a similar workshop at the University. As the schedule was being planned for 2017, contact was made again, and arrangements were finalized for an all-day hands-on workshop for 30 teachers or teacher candidates (to be recruited and registered by UVG) at the Sololá campus after the Santa Avelina workshop was finished. The HELPS team from Sant Avelina (two translators, and several others) assisted the author with preparation and presentation; attending teachers were given a free lunch and the workshop was no cost. In the absence of grant money to cover the supply costs for this workshop, the author solicited and received donations to cover those. Teachers were organized into groups (of about 6) and the lessons were given in a manner similar to those at the Botnan school, using substantial emphasis on the scientific method. Time proved sufficient to teach just six lessons (an addiitonalone was shortened to a demo during lunch), but write-ups for all eight on the agenda were printed for the teachers in-country by HELPS. UVG was given the supplies to loan out or use for addtionaltraning sessions--or to use in any other way they saw fit. There were 18 male and 13 female teachers in attendance, and all were asked to complete evaluation forms; the collected data are presented in Appendix 4.

Project Outcome and Follow-Up The two most recent workshops were completed just months before this writing. A invitation to give additional workshops at the University over a longer period has been extended to the author; it has been also confimed that the supplies left behind at UVG are being utilized. Santa Avelina teachers are still intending to do activities as they reach the appropriate subject matter in their curriculum. Appendix 2 (Santa Avelina workshop, 2016) shows that 100% of the attendees were satisfied with the workshop teaching; 93% committed to using workshop materials in their classrooms (although as already indicated, by the following summer, only a few had actually done so.) Learning occurred across all topics, and the variety of esperiments allowed everyone to find concepts they truly enjoyed.As expected, reactions in the classroom indicated the teachers seemed to relate to experiments about water and weather most easily; much discussion centered around the phase transitions of water, and the water cycle (although there is no preference shown for these lessons in the documented feedback.). Purification of water was also stressed since there is no access to improved sanitation for 36% of the population, and waterborne disease is a major health risk (1). The experiment that focused on germs and proper hand-washing technique was also of great interest, but again this cannot be discerned from the 78 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.


written feedback. Documented feedback shows no overwhelming preference for any particular lesson. Suggestions for improvement were wide-ranging and minor, so there were no glaring flaws. The reward for this activity is actually reading comments like the following: “It is very important to learn about results after each experiment. One day one of my daughters asked me why [a piece of] orange floated on water while a grape sank. I had no explanation--now I do.” The results of the Santa Avelina workshop in 2017 (Appendix 3) indicate that all teachers found it valuable to see the lessons taught to children AND to practice them in front of their peers. Learnings were again broad, and suggestions for improvement showed no obvious shortcoming that was feasible to fix given the format, time constraints and goals. Once more, all teachers showed intention to use workshop materials in their classes. Overall experience rankings (1-10; 10 highest) were higher than in 2016. UVG feedback (Appendix 4) shows the higher education level of the participants; they indicated METHOD/STRATEGY learnings in addition to topic-related ones. 96% of the attendees ranked the experience a 9 or 10 on a scale (worst to best) of 1 to 10. Every teacher intended to use their learnings in his/her classroom; “more time” was suggested in many different ways as a means of improvement. Sample sizes are small here, so results should not be over-interpreted, but these data indicate that for two different teaching populations (one rural and indigenous and the other more urban), the same types of practical hands-on science activities had significant value.

Conclusion Teacher training in a country like Guatemala does not have a guaranteed outcome. Teachers must see the value of what they have learned, and given the inconsistent levels of education and experience they possess, incorporation of new material requires risk-taking that not all will embrace. Not only did these workshops offer new lessons, practice in doing them, and the supplies needed to do so, but they also challenged educators (especially the indigenous ones) to consider modifying their teaching methods to include inquiry and student participation. The teachers indicated they found what they learned useful and practical and WOULD apply it with their students; they were encouraged to do so as soon as possible while memories and skills were fresh. These projects prove that with little money, much can be accomplished--or at least started-- toward improving science education in developing countries. Having an in-country connection and a base for logistical support has substantial impact on the probability of success. Language differences MUST be considered and honored; these will continue to be part of the challenge in Guatemala for years to come. Supply needs can be addressed more easily than can confidence deficits; patience and persistence are required. Rewards are great-- besides the potential benefit for the recipient students and teachers (and the country, longer-term), 79 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

those who provide services such as the ones described here come away with great respect for these people, admiration for their struggles, and hope for their future.

APPENDIX 1 Experiment 10: More Water Properties--Surface Tension Purpose: To show how water “sticks together” and how that special force (called “surface tension”) can be reduced.


Safety: Wear safety glasses. Supplies (each group): -

one coin dropper bottle with water dropper bottle with 1% detergent paper towel

Procedure: 1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6. 7.

Divide class into groups of four or five. Everyone should use the same side of the coin to start. Hold water dropper vertical; drop one drop at a time. Drop water onto the center of the coin from a short distance (don’t touch the dropper to the coin) and count the drops it takes for the water to overflow the edge. Record the number for each group. Dry the coin off. Turn over. Hold the dropper with soap vertically above the coin and drop one drop at a time as before. Count the drops it takes to overflow the coin. Record the number for each group. What do you notice? What happened?

Further work: Surface tension is also responsible for the movement of water up the stem of a plant. To see the effect of this, place blue or red food coloring into a small cup of water (for a fairly strong color), and place the stem of a cut white or light yellow flower in the water. Wait a week and observe. Work with WATER MOLECULES (models) 80 Grosse; Mobilizing Chemistry Expertise To Solve Humanitarian Problems Volume 2 ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.


APPENDIX 2





APPENDIX 3





APPENDIX 4






References 1. 2. 3.


4.

5.

6. 7. 8. 9.

10.

11.

12.

13. 14.

15.

16. 17.

18.

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Science Education Projects in Guatemala - ACS Publications

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