A teacher in rural Lesotho has won plaudits for her project which uses Information and communication technologies (ICT) to educate learners and the community about indigenous plants.
Moliehi Sekese, from Mamoeketsi Primary School situated 15 kilometres outside Maseru, scooped the educator’s choice award at the 2009 Worldwide Innovative Teacher Awards at the Worldwide Innovative Education Forum, held in Brazil this past week.
The project uses ICT to catalogue indigenous plants, listing their uses and location, and this information is then distributed to neighbouring schools and local residents.
“The project started with a classroom discussion about indigenous plants, but we had to find some way to make it more accessible to the learners,” says Sekese, a science teacher with a passion for conservation.
The learners were encouraged to gather extra information and send it to Sekese via SMS, so that they could continue to discuss it in class the following day.
“This stimulated the learners’ interest and we then went out to photograph the plants we had discussed to create a database, which we used to set up a blog and create PowerPoint presentations and flyers that could be shared with other schools.”
Sekese says that technology such as computers and digital cameras are still a novelty to many of her learners, and as such they were ‘keen to get involved’.
“It encouraged them [the learners] to think outside the box and they were more creative and critical in their thinking during the process,” explains Seseke.
The project also led to the learners establishing a botanical garden at the school, consisting entirely of indigenous plants, thus contributing to conservation. The school is also looking at ways that the project can be adapted to other subjects.
“It was a learning experience for all of us, including myself, and with the help of the School Technology Innovation Centre in Maseru, we are hoping to expand the programme to other subjects,” adds Seseke.