Education and Outreach Program Visits Schools in the Tropics

 
Published: 15 November 2004
A native islander is interviewed in his natural setting at Manus Island as part of the TWP kiosk development effort.

In September 2004, the ARM Climate Research Facility Education and Outreach (EO) staff spent 23 days at the Tropical Western Pacific (TWP) locale to develop stronger working relationships with educators and administrators at each of the TWP sites—Manus Island, Nauru Island, and Darwin, Australia. While there, new curriculum enrichment materials, including a teacher manual and student workbook entitled, My Climate, My Culture, were shared with local teachers and principals. Though initial feedback on the materials was very positive, in-depth reviews will be performed at each site to provide final comments to the EO office before My Climate, My Culture will be published to the Education website.

During the visit to Darwin, Australia, EO staff met with the education manager at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory to discuss the development and installation of an educational kiosk, one of the three being developed and funded by the ARM Climate Research Facility as a collaborative effort with the communities at each TWP location. The three new kiosks will focus on the effects of climate change and its impacts to the Tropical Western Pacific islanders. They will be similar in concept to the interactive kiosk that was successfully implemented and now on permanent display at the Iñupiat Heritage Center in Barrow, Alaska. (See Outreach News for more on the Barrow kiosk.) EO staff will spend the next several months preparing for the upcoming kiosk installations at Darwin, Manus Island, and Nauru Island.

The TWP operations and business managers accompanied EO staff throughout the trip and hosted tours of the infrastructure at each of the TWP sites. They were visiting the TWP locale for site inspections, vendor contract talks, and meetings with local government officials.