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Deborah Tippins’ yearlong stay in the Philippines has given her a new perspective on teaching and learning. A professor of science education at the University of Georgia, Tippins says the daily interaction she had with students and faculty has strengthened her understanding and appreciation for cultural diversity. “The experience broke down stereotypes on both sides, building trust and mutual respect,” she says. “That’s what the Fulbright Program is all about.”
Tippins spent the year teaching at her host school, West Visayas State University (WVSU) in Iloilo City, directing workshops for elementary and high school teachers at the country’s Regional Science Teaching Centers and traveling around the country to consult with colleagues and give lectures.
At the undergraduate level Tippins co-taught a Science Education Seminar course for seniors specializing in elementary science and health, and she helped develop a new course, Community Integration and Immersion, now a requirement for all third-year students. “As part of this course, students are divided into groups of 10 and assigned to a rural barangay, or parish,” she explains. “They meet with the barangay captain, talk to the community members and do an in-depth study and survey of the barangay before going there to live for a week. Once they are there, they implement service projects and learn about teaching in that setting.” Tippins accompanied undergraduate physics majors to the remote barangay of Tupol Oeste on Panay Island.
At the graduate level Tippins was involved in the professional development and training of some 300 science teachers through Rescue Initiative in Science Education, or Project Rise. “I was very impressed with the breadth and depth of the learning experiences available to Project Rise participants,” she says.
The research Tippins conducted during her stay was extensive. Along with collaborators at WVSU, she is doing a longitudinal study of community-based science education in Antique. The research is looking at the relationship teachers see between science education and community knowledge and practices. “This study holds important implications with respect to its methodology,” she says. “We are using innovative tools of inquiry, like the photo essay, case-based pedagogy and memory-banking.”
A major accomplishment of Tippins’ Fulbright was the development of the Casay Environmental Education Center. “My colleagues at WVSU and I worked closely with a community planning team to conceptualize, plan and build the center for environmental inquiry,” she says. “A number of activities have already taken place there, for example, a summer science camp, professional development workshops for teachers and some evenings of stargazing.” In order to get the word out that the Center was up and running, Tippins developed a Web site. “Based on the number of visitors to the site, there is a great deal of interest in the Center,” she says.
Although the requests to do workshops, seminars and lectures exceeded what Tippins could possibly fulfill, she did her best. “Many universities in the Philippines are striving to enhance their research culture, so a popular topic was action research and qualitative research methodologies,” she says. “Other lecture topics high in demand were multicultural education, teaching strategies and practical work in science education, and portfolio and authentic assessment. I was welcomed warmly everywhere I went. It was wonderful.” For her final talk Tippins spoke at the first conference of a newly formed professional association for elementary teachers of science. Since she was instrumental in forming the organization, she was asked to give the keynote address. “It was quite an honor,” she says. “I am so pleased that these teachers now have a way of exchanging ideas and information. That’s so important.”
Perhaps most noteworthy of all her accomplishments is the book that Tippins and her colleagues published, Just in Case: Encounters in Science and Mathematics Teaching and Learning. “We worked with 25 teachers and teacher educators who contributed cases for the book,” she explains. “A number of casebooks have been published in the United States for use in teacher preparation that have proven very valuable. So it was tremendously satisfying to complete a Filipino casebook uniquely suited to the needs of teachers there.”
Living and working in the Philippines was a joy; however, Tippins says there were challenges. How does one teach about the perils of deforestation when families are cutting down and burning trees to make charcoal, which they then sell at the market to buy food? Tippins was quite taken aback when her female colleagues insisted on starting are search team meeting with manicures. She quickly understood that it was “part of the Filipino bonding experience.” Tippins also had to learn a bit of Tagalog, the official language, and Hiligaynon, the local dialect, though science and math were taught in English.
Tippins now has an “extended family of friends” in Iloilo City and Manila; she went back to see them at Christmas. She also has hosted four Filipino colleagues in the United States and is helping to secure agrant for an exchange program between West Visayas and Mindanao state universities and her home institution. “These exchanges are so important to the understanding of worldwide education,” she says. “Before going to the Philippines, my focus was on teaching science as a subject. Now, my focus is on teaching people, and science is the context and medium that surrounds that.”
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"International education
exchange is the most significant current project
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mankind to the point, we would hope, that
nations can learn to live in peace"
--J. William Fulbright |
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