Service Learning

“It could have been a work bench in an electronics factory: several people were huddled around a table assembling components that included batteries, wires, and LEDS. Instead, it was a lesson in how linking craft and technology can improve life in developing countries, and it was a possible first step in an effort to link a village in Africa with a charter school in the United States.”
– Providence Journal, May 24, 2006.

It turns out that constructing Taa Bora lights as a service-learning (or science class) project is a winning proposition for U.S. schools and students, too.

With toolkits provided by Green Energies, students in grades 4 – 12 can make their own solar-powered lights and draw multiple lessons from a relatively simple hands-on activity.

• They learn how to construct a tangible product with simple tools and directions.
• They learn the basics of electricity and solar power.
• They gain an understanding of the enormous challenges developing
  “Let there be light” workshop at the 2008 NYLC annual meeting.
  Watch the slideshow .
  
  countries face as they struggle to acquire the resources the developed world takes for granted, like electricity.

When students and their teachers present the project results to parents and other members of the community, the knowledge spreads—along with the sense of having made a connection with the developing world and the planetary need for alternative energy.

Learning about life in East Africa

The toolkit also includes a complimentary copy of the photo essay book, In Our Village: Kambi ya Simba Through The Eyes of Its Youth (Next Generation Press, 2006), and a DVD of short videos of the village, shot by students at the Awet Secondary School. Both provide U.S. students a remarkable view of village life in rural Tanzania.

If you are a teacher (or perhaps an adult who works with youth after school) and would like to learn more about the Taa Bora service learning project, please email us. In addition to the toolkit, we provide inservice workshops for teachers and other educators.

Click here for an audio slideshow that brings together students in Boulder, Colorado and Kambi ya Simba, Tanzania.

See press coverage.