Adventures in problem-based learning!

Tuesday started like any other day. But, it soon became apparent that the Problem-Based Learning Gods had aligned themselves in the stratosphere. I promised to blog a bit about teaching, so we'll start with this...

Tuesday morning was the 'newcomer parents' coffee at Windhoek International School. After mingling, the elementary principal spoke to us about the School's inquiry based education program. As a proponent of Problem-Based Learning at the college level, I was struck by the interesting parallels of K-12 and college teaching (which are usually viewed as distinct and managed distinctly--like the fact that K-12 teachers are required to get education courses and college teachers usually are not...). Mr. Manly quoted the exact same statistics that I had heard 2 weeks ago at a pre-semester teaching workshop at Polytechnic--regarding the need for a new approach to education.

Namely:
1. The top 10 careers, currently, were not in existence 10 years ago. Think biofuels, information management, nanotechnology, etc.
2. The Honors-level college graduates from China or India (pick one) outnumber the total population of Great Britain and definitely Namibia. So, they have more smart people than 'we' have people. Think that will affect global competition?
3. There are so many 'facts' generated each year, it is impossible to teach students all the 'facts' they need. Thus, the age of content-based education is over. Not possible, anymore. What is important is to teach problem-solving and critical thinking. If one has a problem, how do you make decisions and find the information you need to make that decision. Now--problem is--how to you test that learning with a multiple choice test? Answer: you don't.

After the coffee, I headed to school, where I had prepared to lead the first day's introduction to a new problem case in the Natural Resource Management course I'm helping with. The faculty at Polytechnic had been encouraged to add case studies to their curriculum by an outside consultant. I arrived in time to suggest implementing a technique I used in Nebraska: problem-based learning. It fit perfectly with their needs and it was a great opportunity for me to see if I could pull of a problem case discussion with students in a different culture than I was used to teaching.

The problem case is supposed to be 'ill-structured'--that is, it is a story or description of a problem that uses jargon and talks about issues that quickly make students realize they need to learn several things to solve the problem. If you're really interested in problem-based learning, you can go here to learn more details. But, the bottom line is that I created a letter from a landowner who was writing to a Ministry of the Environment and Tourism biologist, and the landowner needed some help creating a management plan for a game farm. If you want to read the entire letter, you can click here.

I started by describing 'why' we were going to be doing something different. These were 3rd-year students (juniors in the states' jargon) who had mostly been lectured to during their educational careers. Their looks told me they were a little suspect. Hmmm...not sure this would work at that point. I handed out the letter and let them read it. Faces starting to concentrate. Smiles appearing. Some major scribbling of notes going on. Maybe this will work. I should add that the amount of concentration was higher than students in Nebraska, mostly because English was not their first language. Most of them read it twice.

I split them into groups of 3-4 students and had them list things that they would need to learn. After about 15 minutes, I had to break off discussions--they were very knowledgeable and had very good thoughts. No one was talking about what they were doing that night for dinner, or what happened to the local cricket team. They were into the problem. It worked (sorry for the poor quality cell phone photo).

We came back together as a group to make the 'master list' of learning issues on the board (see photo up top). There were even constructive disagreements and discussions as we added items to the board that would need to be flushed out during the next few weeks of the course. Most of the students had spent the past year doing an internship somewhere in the country--that's what they do during their sophomore year, or 'second year'. So, they had experiences to draw on--one young man knew that plains zebras shouldn't be kept on this game farm because of habitat needs. A young lady was adamant that the water supply issue needed to be investigated. Another young lady was very interested in learning about the home ranges of all the game species, because the farm only had so much forage capacity. Indeed!

I went back to my office feeling very confident that (1) the semester was going to be a good one, (2) that problem-based learning can be used anywhere in most any situation, and (3) that Namibia's environment is soon to be in the hands of some very competent professionals. The passion was palpable. And, that's always the goal.

A drive in the countryside...come along via video

Apologies to readers of NTN for no news except for a funny goat story during the past two weeks. School started at Polytechnic, with a workshop for distance students. All of a sudden, life got busy. I'll blog about teaching soon. We haven't explored far into Namibia, yet, but are enjoying our small trips.

On Saturday, we took the morning to visit the oldest game farm in Namibia, according to their signage: Duerstenbrook. The name means "duck forest", and it was situated in a beautiful bend in a river, overlooking a valley. We'll put some photos on the Picasa link to show the scenery. This will be a video-laden blog for your enjoyment.

We traveled to Duerstenbrook with a fellow Fulbright family. They have 3 kids, and recently purchased a Land Rover. Of course, we are employing our massive field vehicle, Polly, our Toyota Corolla.

We left town bright and early, and arrive a bit after 9 for the morning cat feeding at Duerstenbrook. They have 2 leopards and 7 cheetahs in fenced enclosures. The kids all enjoyed seeing cats close-up.

Cheetahs are an interesting creature, with several adaptations that allow them to be efficient hunters. We have heard that cheetahs have a poor sense of smell (they don't track their prey--they kill it and eat it quickly, because other, bigger cats and hyenas will come chase them away) and that they are far-sighted--having excellent vision to see prey in the distance, but very poor sight close-up. We got some pretty good evidence of this during the feeding today--the tour driver tossed some meat that got hung up on a thorn in a tree, above the ground. The cat in the video is actually the third cat to try to find the meat. They could smell it 'somewhere', but could they see it? Could they find it? At one point, he looks right at it, and it swings right above his head. Take a look:

After the cat drive, we saw some 'wild' wildlife on the way back to the main road. We passed a pretty big herd of impalas that were enjoying the lush grass along the river:

The road to Duerstenbrook included an 18-km stretch of gravel, and most of it was very good. Because of high water across the main road, we were directed by small signs on a detour through some two-track pasture roads, through 4 gates, and forded the river at a better location. Even this crossing made us get out to check water depth to see if Polly could make it across. Of course, she could! We took this video on the way out:

It's been raining a lot near Windhoek, and the temperatures have been much cooler than when we arrived--still in the 70's and 80's. Other quick updates:

--Tristan has a part in "Fiddler on the Roof" which will be put on by the International School's middle grades. He's the butcher. They only had 4 boys try out, so the lead male parts are played by girls--tradition! If I were a rich man, I'd buy you all plane tickets to come watch. I'm not sure of the production date, but it will be here soon (quickly go the days...). I'm not sure if it will be held at sunrise or sunset. OK, enough 'Fiddler' puns. Try to keep your balance...

--Tristan has started two sports at WIS (Windhoek Int'l School): track and field, and baseball. After only two practices, he represented WIS in the city track meet (private schools) in the shot put. He got 5th place. Baseball is a new sport at WIS--started by one of the Fulbright dads, who got a nice donation of gloves and other equipment from a Michigan little league team. Namibia is all about cricket, so baseball is new for most kids at WIS. Both sports practice once a week after school.

--We enjoyed an afternoon at the US Ambassador's house last weekend--she invited all Americans in Namibia to come chat and enjoy hamburgers and hot dogs and some American movie trivia games. There were about 80 folks there--and 650 Americans are in Namibia on 'extended stays' (longer than 3 months).

--Regular classes start this week at Polytechnic. I'm teaching a research methodology (research proposals and statistics) by distance to 4th year students and helping with a natural resource management course. We're going to draw up a management plan for a local game farm--introducing problem-based learning ideas.

--We got our first mail from the US--took a bit over 1.5 weeks from Iowa and Nebraska. Arrived just fine. It was a happy moment!

Goat behind bars for car theft

There are several papers for sale in Windhoek, in various languages with various viewpoints. As we drive Tristan to school and then on to Poly for me to go to work, we can buy a paper at several intersections for N$3 (about 30 cents, US). We purchase the Namibian, which is an independent paper (there is a government-backed paper called New Era) in English. Yesterday's top story is below, a report from Nigeria. Thought you might enjoy it! I've typed it word for word from the January 28, 2009 Namibian.

One interesting note--I tried to find "the photo" of the alleged criminal mastermind, and several internet sites purported to have the photo. But, they were all different goats and most were photos from the US (like a photo of a 4H goat project in Kentucky). You'll have to use your imagination, I guess. Just watch your car the next time you see a herd of goats...

Goat behind bars for car theft

LAGOS--Police in Nigeria are holding a goat handed to them by a vigilante group, which said it was a car thief who had used witchcraft to change shape.

In a front-page article on Friday, the VANGUARD, one of Nigeria's biggest daily newspapers said two men tried to steal a Mazda car two days earlier in Kwara State, with one suspect transforming himself into a goat as vigilantes cornered him.

A police spokesman in Kwara State has been quoted as saying that the 'armed robbery suspect' would remain in custody until investigations were over.

The VANGUARD newspaper has a picture of the goat and reports that police paraded it in front of journalists in the Kwara State capital Ilorin on Thursday. But that was denied by national police spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu.

"The vigilante group arrested the goat and took it to the police, then they told the media." The next morning journalists turned up demanding to see the goat, he said. "But of course, goats can't commit crime."

Belief in black magic and the power to change shape is common in Nigeria, particularly in the far-flung rural areas. The BBC's Andrew Walker in Abuja says communities often rely on ill-educated and badly prepared vigilante squads to fill the gaps where police will not patrol at night.

Innocent Chukwuma of the justice reform group the Cleen Foundation, told BBC that many Nigerian police officers were poorly educated. "There are officers who don't even have a secondary school education, and the police have a big job to do in finding these people and getting rid of them."

Dolphins and milestones

By the end of this week, the Powell family will have been away from Lincoln, NE for one month. We started keeping track of visitors to NTN on Jan. 7; as of the 26th we passed 1000 hits on the blog site, which is an average of 52 hits per day. It has been fun to watch where people are coming from and guess who has been on the blog. Libby, MT is easy, but Athens, OH--we still haven't figured out who you are. It's good to know we are still connected to our friends and family back home.

This past weekend, we traveled to the coast to the town of Walvis Bay. Walvis means 'whale' in Afrikaans, and the area is the recipient of oxygen-rich, food-laden currents coming north along the west coast. Whales visit during certain times of the year. We had the fortune to be on a marine cruise when a large number of Dusky Dolphins showed up (estimated by our skipper at 800-1000). They are small, deep-water dolphins (only 1.5-2 meters in length, compared to 6m for the bottlenose dolphin). We'll try our first video posting here. Kelly is the photographer, capturing some close-ups and some great footage of just a portion of the sea with dolphins popping up everywhere. Just click on the play button on the video below.

More photos of our quick trip to the coast are found on the Picasa link to the left. We enjoyed the trip, which was 4-5 hours from Windhoek (5 hours going, 4 hours returning--because Larkin got used to going 120 km/hr (a little over 70 mph) on a two-lane, narrow road with construction. It reminded us of Hwy 169 between Lamoni and Leon. Walvis Bay is also one of two shipping ports, so the road is used by all large trucks carrying goods to the country. Most local drivers wanted to go about 140-150 km/hr on the hilly roads. So, you can probably imagine why they were happy only 40-some people died on the highway over the holiday season (December) this past year.

Despite the harried road conditions, the scenery was spectacular along the way, as we went from relatively lush and green Windhoek to the eventual completely barren sands of the coastal dunes. The cool winds off the sea caused Kelly to ask if we could just stay the week, or perhaps the year, in Walvis Bay. It is a great place, and we'll be back.

A river runs through it...sometimes

Readers of NTN may appreciate a little shorter blog than my multi-paragraphic contributions of the past week. I'll try to keep this one short, with more photos than text.

Classes do not start at Polytechnic until Feb. 2, so I took advantage of an open afternoon today to travel with my Poly colleague, Dave Joubert, to his study site east of town. We picked a beautiful afternoon, but as soon as we cleared the hills surrounding Windhoek, it was apparent we were heading directly into a rainstorm that would make the Nebraska Sandhills proud. The purpose of our trip was to check Dave's rain gauges, which he thought were close to full already. Going back was not an option.

Dave's study site is near the campus of an agricultural college, and the gravel road runs across a twisting river bed 4 times. That is, the road is straight, and the river twists across it. Normally, the river bed (like most river beds in Namibia) is dry most of the time. Before we reached the site, the skies opened. We made it across the mostly dry river bed, and checked his gauges. On the return, we found a river that had risen by a couple feet. We made it across in the 4x4, at one point driving downstream (in the middle of the river) to find a better way out. Dave is a great river driver.

The most interesting experience was when we got back to the first portion of the river we had crossed on the way in. The river bed was still dry here--we had crossed the upstream portions and evidently the water hadn't made it to this point yet. So, we stopped and waited for the river to come to us. The photos here show the dry river bed and then a full river--it was pretty slow moving as the river was fairly wide. A heron was following the water as it moved along--evidently some food was being washed along, too. I'm sure there are some interesting fisheries/aquatic organism questions an ecologist could explore here--like what happens to the fish/turtles/etc. when the river goes dry after the rainy season. Or, perhaps these streams never have any aquatic organisms in them, if the water goes down quickly between rains.

Watching them watching us

Inauguration day was interesting to watch from the our side of the pond. We started the day by getting a copy of the English language paper, the Namibian. The cover was filled with a photo of Mr. Obama, and the paper included a large insert about the inauguration. We can buy a copy of the paper from guys on street corners as we drive to school and work, for N$3 (30 cents US).

As I went through the day, my colleagues continually talked about the transition and the new president. They certainly follow American politics, and the general feeling was that he has a big row to hoe. Agreed.

Obama has certainly sparked a light in many Africans, who are extremely proud that an African-American is now president. Interestingly, some discussions I overheard in the past week focused on whether Obama is really African-American. The context for these comments is found in a country where "black" means pure African and "colored" means a product of a mixed marriage many generations ago. From that perspective, Obama is not even colored, as many generations are required to fit that category. But, the majority of the people I talked with and listened to were very excited about one of their own making it big.

The culmination to the day came with an invitation from the US Embassy to attend a celebration of democracy. The event was mostly for Namibians, but the Embassy also invited the Fulbrighters and some other select Americans in Namibia. Spouses were not invited, so Kelly hosted a kids/spouse party at our house (our cable TV with CNN was the drawing factor). At the Embassy function it became clear pretty soon that the focus was for the US to do a little "democracy evangelizing" as one of my Fulbright colleagues labeled it. The event was held on a soccer field, under some very large tents erected for the occasion. There was a free bar, free food, and the Prime Minister of Namibia attended. The US Ambassador spoke, and she made a point to emphasize, repeatedly, the "peaceful transition" that is our tradition in the US. She congratulated Ghana on their recent elections and transition.

Again, context is important. The honest truth is that Namibia exists as a democracy, but under the 'veil' of democracy there are the same "powerful African male" syndrome problems that plague other countries. Powerful guys who do not want to lose power. There is one political party in Namibia (SWAPO) that holds power, although there are perhaps 40 or more smaller parties. Currently, SWAPO (which is the party that led the country to independence) is undergoing an internal division. There are reports from the northern part of the country that some of the 'problem members' of SWAPO are encountering some resistance (mild word) from SWAPO. It will be interesting to see what goes on as the elections in November draw near. The reality is that there is a large lower class and a small upper class in Namibia, and no real middle class. One of the only ways to get into the upper class is through political gain. On the flip side, if your party loses, it may mean going back to lower class status (income, etc.). So, you can see why SWAPO members want to remain in power.

What all that meant tonight was that the US Ambassador's speech repeatedly made the point to the folks in the room (I assume many SWAPO elite) that peaceful transitions were important to democracy. I'm not sure if they went home thinking, "Wow, maybe we'll try that." But, they were there and the message was delivered.

The attendees of the function enjoyed Obama's speech, and any reference to Martin Luther King or African relations got big applause. The biggest applause and laughter during the evening came during Dr. Lowery's incredible benediction. I personally hope Rev. Ricky Warren was listening and taking notes...! But, I digress. The Namibians really enjoyed the "red man can get ahead, man" and "yellow will be mellow" and "whites will do what's right". As one of my Fulbright colleagues pointed out, we were some of the few white people in the audience. Good point.

For me, the most poignant moment of the night came during the singing of the Star Spangled Banner. Years ago, I was a member of the Creston High School Anthem Singers, who sang at basketball games and such. It's been over 20 years, but I can still remember that bass part--at least for the last few bars--and it's fun to hum along. But, tonight, as I listened to the words and heard the music of my national anthem from afar, it was a touching moment. Not sure I've ever felt as American as I did right then. I tried to sing, but ended up having to listen. It was probably just a piece of chicken that was stuck in my throat...

Big cats at Amani Lodge

The prescription for restlessness is activity. So, feeling restless, the Powell's set out on a mini-adventure to start our travels around Namibia. Looking through possible day trips, we decided to reserve a spot at Amani Lodge for the Big Cat Experience. The lodge is 20km southwest of Windhoek, and the guidebook claimed it was the highest inhabited place in Namibia, at about 2200 m elevation.

We were happy that this is the slow season, as a 10 a.m. phone call resulted in a 2 p.m. reservation for lunch and a spot on the game drive. We have photos of the experience archived on our Picasa Web Album, with captions to provide some details of what we saw. Here, I thought I'd talk about the lodge and their conservation efforts.

When conservation and ecotourism mix, it's always interesting. It is possible for some ventures to go too far to the tourism end, and do almost anything to make money. Think about the road-side zoo's that appeared in the US during the 60's as the interstate highway system started to provide a captive audience of bored people. On the flip side, it is certainly possible to design an ecotourism venture that provides income to support important conservation efforts. After spending the day at Amani, it seems the latter describes their venture.

The road from Windhoek, which is the main road to Walvis Bay on the coast, became a gravel road after 10 km. The little entrance road to Amani was a fun test for the Toyota, which we have affectionately named "Polly" (because it has a Polytechnic sticker on each side). When we arrived, they had our table waiting for us. We were the only people dining at 2 p.m. in a gorgeous thatched dining area. Many of the tables and the bar were made from native trees, and the entire lodge blended into the hillside very well.

The game drive at Amani consists of a driving adventure through hillsides and canyons to reach three fenced areas. Each area holds a different large cat. We first visited the lion area, which is 25 ha and holds a male and female lion. These guys were brought to Amani when their owner, who had raised them from cubs in his house, figured out that lions could eat him. They will be at Amani for their entire life, as they could not be released to the wild. First, they are still somewhat aggressive and were raised with humans--not a good mix. And, they've been in captivity their entire life. The lodge has built a viewing stand/blind and every afternoon some brave soul spreads meat parts around right before the game drive comes by. As you can see by our photos, you get a very close-up view of lions. The guide gives a good, hushed talk about lions. It's certainly not seeing lions in the wild, but it is creative way to bring in some income from a pair of lions that might have been euthanized if Amani didn't take them. We could hear the lions roaring during the rest of our visit.

Next stop was a leopard, which lives alone in another large area. The leopard came to Amani from a farm in South Africa, where it was found with a very injured front leg. Although it was a wild leopard, the injury has kept it from returning to the wild. Amani has been working to rehabilitate it--and in the past 3-4 months, it has gained enough strength in the leg to start jumping up in trees like leopards should. They place meat high in a tree to lure it and train it to jump again. Kelly pointed out that a person has to climb the tree to place the leg-o-game for it, so someone gets some fun. We asked the guide about this, and he said they fill that position daily...!

It was raining off and on during the first part of our drive, so we returned to the lodge for coffee and a fire in their braai. It was fairly cool high up on the mountain, and most of our group decided to call it a day. However, we had not seen the wild cheetahs, and we voted to go back out. It turned out to be an excellent decision. Not only did we have the guide to ourselves, now, but the rain cleared. And, the others missed the best part of the day.

Amani has an agreement with the Cheetah Conservation Fund. One of the CCF's functions is to serve as a holding center for cheetahs that might otherwise be killed by farmers. Cheetahs are a species of critical conservation need world-wide, and they have been the focus of much research because of their low genetic variability. In Namibia, cheetahs are doing very well, because their habitat is mostly intact because of ranching (similar to how the Nebraska Sandhills is keeping grassland habitat intact, because row-cropping is not possible). The problem in Namibia is that sheep are tasty and cheetahs often become pests to farmers. So, the CCF provides an option--offering to take cheetahs and relocate them if they become problems.

Amani serves as a 'half-way house' for cheetahs. They have a very large area for them to essentially run wild. Just 4 months ago, Amani released 5 cheetahs to Namibrand, which is another, much larger reserve in western Namibia. The cheetahs were marked with GPS tracking collars (paid for with our entrance fees to Amani), and are hunting on their own. We got to see their replacements--5 new cheetahs brought from CCF. The 5 cheetahs we saw are 2 sets of brothers who came to CCF as cubs. They are now full-grown, but not ready to release to the wild. Amani is training them to eat and work collaboratively. Competition is fierce in nature, and our guide explained how cheetahs are smaller-framed than other cats, which allows them to attain their fast speeds. But, they often lose their prey to other carnivores once they catch it. So, cheetahs must eat quickly in groups--no waiting for each other to eat in order of hierarchy. And, this is something that must be learned.

We got to watch as our guide threw out a zebra frontquarter--less than 5 m from the truck. We got a front-row seat as the 5 cheetahs lined up like little feeder pigs at the trough and found their section of leg. They grip the leg and each other with their dew-claw. One of them actually got his dew claw caught on his own face for a bit, and he was frustrated about that. It was a great experience to see it so close. We are fairly certain that liability insurance probably would limit this attraction in the states, as there was no rail, no fence, no anything between us and the cheetahs.

Thus ended our first major exploration of ecotourism in Namibia. We enjoyed seeing some big cats close up, and felt very good about the objectives and motivations of Amani Lodge. It was amazing how 'wild' their area seemed, only 20 km from Windhoek. But, in the drive to and from town, we passed about 6-7 cars on the road--it doesn't take much distance to get into the bush!