Stars and STEM Stories
First GLOBE Teacher Training Workshop in 10 Years Relaunches GLOBE Program in Bangladesh
GLOBE Asia and Pacific Regional Coordination Office (AP RCO) -- in collaboration with the GLOBE Implementation Office and U.S. Embassy Dhaka and in association with Brighters Society Bangladesh (GLOBE - Bangladesh) -- organized the first GLOBE Teacher Training workshop in Dhaka, Bangladesh in May 2023 to re-launch the GLOBE Program in their country.
The main mission was to promote the teaching and learning of science, enhance environmental literacy and stewardship, and promote scientific discovery. The idea of the program was to develop the capacity of GLOBE volunteers, and to facilitate activities and projects that address local environmental issues through applied environmental education. The training program helped participants improve their knowledge and understanding of science, mathematics and other innovative informative technologies. The program also provided a good opportunity to the participants for studying and analyzing major environmental parameters through simple but innovative methods/instruments. This project relaunched The GLOBE Program in Bangladesh after a hiatus of 10 years and is intended to generate genuine scientific interest among the school community, with capacity-building initiatives enabling the schools to continue hands-on environmental activities.
The workshop started with the welcome address by Ms. Fariha Aumi, Chair of the Brighters Society of Bangladesh and GLOBE Country Coordinator. Ms. Aumi welcomed all participants, explaining how Brighters will develop and promote the GLOBE Program in Dhaka and across Bangladesh by using its nationwide volunteer force to train school students. Following Aumi’s remarks, Dr. Desh Bandhu, Asia and Pacific RCO Coordinator, provided remarks saying that GLOBE is a hands-on, minds-on effort in which students become environmental advocates. Dr. Bandhu continued, saying GLOBE is science and education, not just science education. GLOBE provides extensive educational material to enrich the learning experience of the participating students. These materials include a wide variety of classroom and field activities to help students place their measurements in a broader context and relate their own local observations to global environmental issues. Dr. Bandhu also stated that Bangladesh can count on the RCO’s help in implementing and strengthening The GLOBE Program in the region. Dr. Bandhu thanked Ms. Sivani Rasanayakam, Economic Officer, U.S. Embassy Dhaka for her help, encouragement and motivation to implement the GLOBE Training in Dhaka. Following Dr. Bandhu’s remarks, Ms. Rasanayakam thanked the GLOBE trainers for their commitment and encouraged the participants to take advantage of this unique opportunity to learn directly from the trainers.
After completion of the GLOBE Training Program, participants shared their implementation plan for GLOBE in the schools that were selected to start with, as well as which protocols the participants were most interested in implementing; they came with their own ideas on how to make use of what GLOBE has to offers. From engaging in hands-on learning to the focused use of GLOBE apps, there was an endless stream of curious questions and innovative ideas. The participants also said they will develop an action plan and share it with the mentor trainers for their Input & suggestions. The participants also brainstormed as to how they could collaborate with each other and develop future training agendas for student training by pooling their resources together.
Workshop training was provided by mentor trainers for each of the four GLOBE protocols. Dr. Desh Bandhu, Dr. R. K. Garg, Ms. Joan B. Calliope and Ms. Henna Kausher (Trainer) also trained the participants in navigating the GLOBE website, data collection, and data Visualization. The GLOBE Program protocols were discussed in detail along with videos of learning activities on a few of the protocols, during which the participants were provided theoretical knowledge by respective experts followed by practical/hands-on activities.