Project Thailand 2009
When: Saturday August 22nd, 2009 – Friday September 4th, 2009
Where: Tesabaan 5 School, Lampang, Thailand

Rote-memorization is a problem commonly found in Thai education system, which affects Tesabaan 5 School as well. With focus on lecturing, students are not prepared to critically think and analyze lesson materials. We hope to engage students and teachers in active classroom environments.

Problems

  • Students at the school learn by rote-memorization, which leads to the lack of conceptual understanding of materials. Exams further reinforce rote-learning by having students regurgitate facts from lectures. Gradually under this system, students lose actual learning motivation and problem-solving and critical thinking skills.
  • The library, seen as a boring place, could not motivate students to learn independently. Students do not see the need to seek additional resources because they think the materials their teachers feed them are sufficient.

Local Partner

Who: Yonok Foundation

Yonok Foundation, founded in 1988 along with Yonok University, is an educational foundation in Lampang, Thailand. Its mission is to support education, campus ministry, health, and public and civic affairs in Thailand. Yonok partners with the Ministry of Education, Health, Commerce and schools such as Stanford University and University of Washington. The foundation will facilitate contact with the school and provide us with logistical support on the ground. They will also help sustain our project activities after the completion of our project.

Objectives

  • For the students in the school
    • To become engaged in active classroom activities
    • To increase learning motivation
    • To be equipped with problem-solving and critical thinking skills
  • For the teachers
    • To implement active classroom environments
    • To create active learning curricula
    • To hold regular support group or discussion on the transition to active learning
  • For the school
    • To create an environment that encourages students to independently make use of resources of their interest

Approaches

  • Active classroom environment
    • Collaborate with teachers in designing fun, creative curricula that will engage students in actively learning school materials
    • Lead fun classroom activities with teachers and motivate students to be excited about learning
    • Help teachers form support group to help ease the teaching style transition period
  • Leadership training
    • Train school’s student council to become better leaders through active learning activities
    • Mentor and supervise leadership project of the student council: help them in brainstorming and implementing library-related activities
    • This group will be responsible in continuing the activities and setting up an example for other students in the school
  • Library renovation
    • Renovate the school library and create a welcoming learning environment that fosters independent learning

Team Member Responsibilities

  • Design an active learning curriculum with local teachers
  • Engage students in fun classroom activities
  • Teach leadership skills
  • Mentor students on leadership project
  • Create a welcoming learning environment for the school library

Skills Needed

  • Interest in empowering youth and in shaping a better future for them
  • Interest in education and teaching experiences would be an asset
  • Energy, determination, motivation, and willingness to try and learn new things

Project Leaders

  • Kin Fucharoen: kinf ‘at’ sealnetonline.org
  • Adriana Miu: amiu ‘at’ sealnetonline.org