Progress & Growth

1998

A delegation represented iEARN Suriname at their first iEARN International Conference, held in Tennessee, U.S.A. in July 1998. By attending this conference iEARN Suriname became an official member of the iEARN community and as such started to recruit participants, teachers and students, from other schools in Suriname.

In December 1998 the first project of iEARN Suriname was launched called “CAKI - Campaign for Kids”. The purpose of the project was to try and meet the needs of children from a relatively poor environment, by organizing fundraising activities.

1999

During the first quarter of 1999 students initiated "Exchanging Cultures Makes Friends". This project was presented at the 6th Annual iEARN Conference in July 1999 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The iEARN Suriname delegation presented this project during the "YOUTH DAY" at the conference in Puerto Rico, covering our various cultures as a peaceful co-existence in Suriname.

KVCO- Video Project

At this conference an international project named "Kids Video Collaboration Online" was launched with ten participating countries including Suriname. This environmental project covered the following topics:

• Nature preservation - Showcases on National Parks;
• Pollution and;
• Waste Management.

Students and their teachers / coordinators in the participating countries, collaborated through e-mail and the Internet, exchanging information on the above mentioned topics, using video footage to enhance their stories. The video footage was then sent to the international coordinator of the KVCO project, Schools Online, an international organization whose motto is: "Connecting schools together, one computer, one school at a time". There the footage of all the participating member countries was edited into one presentation videotape of iEARN International and KVCO Project called: "Get on the Net, And there we Are".

 Tonka Island Promotional Video

iEARN Suriname students worked on "Nature Preservation: Showcases on National Parks," visiting the Brownsberg Nature Park and Tonka Island situated at the foot of the Brownsberg in the van Blommenstein reservoir (lake) both part of the Brokopondo district. A result of the visits to Tonka Island was  the making of a promotional video, in order to help the Panda Foundation, managing the island in its strive to make Tonka Island an education center for students in the Brokopondo area as well as from the coastal region, exchanging information and learning from each other’s culture and customs.

Math On-line

Math On-line is a project where school classes in different countries exchange information and experiences on the use of mathematics in the real day-to-day world via e-mail and the Internet. This project is an on-going project in which students of iEARN Suriname also have participated and contributed.

2000

iEARN Suriname started working on three main objectives:

• The structuring and legalization of iEARN Suriname into a legal entity.
• Promoting iEARN and its ideas and values to teachers, students and others.
• Preparations for participation in the 7th International iEARN Conference 2000 in Beijing, China.

Planet Project

From 15-18 November 2000 iEARN Suriname participated with students in the Planet Project, the largest poll ever held worldwide organized by the International organization called Against All Odds Productions. The technology, needed for this major event, was provided by 3COM. Two Suriname teams won technical grants along with 48 other top-pollsters around the world (including 21 iEARN members).

2001

Priceless Medicines in Our Backyard

During the 7th iEARN Conference in Beijing, China in July 2000 the representatives of the countries who participated in the KVCO project, decided on initiative of the Suriname delegation to start working on a new project called  "Priceless Medicines in Our Backyard". Teachers and students from eight countries representing most continents proposed an international Internet-based collaboration project to raise awareness about medical plants hiding in forests and other habitats around the planet. At the 8th iEARN Conference in Cape Town, South Africa in this year, representatives of the participating countries presented their reports during a special workshop.

  This project will be completed in December 2001 and should result in a website, a CD-ROM to use in the classroom, and a presentation video.

Since January 2001 iEARN Suriname has made a number of presentations at several schools, and in April 2001 conducted two 2-day teachers’ workshops resulting in 7 official member schools and growing. iEARN Suriname will focus on integrating iEARN curriculum based projects into the Suriname education system.

Tap' Sey Mit' Foto Sey (South meets North)

This project included an interactive collaboration between students and teachers from the coastal area (Paramaribo) and from the interior (Brokopondo) of Suriname. Students, under guidance of their teachers, discussed environmental issues such as the ecological footprint that was left after a dam was build, and acres of virgin forest as well as more than 30 villages were lost in the reservoir. The students discussed the past, present and the future of the islands in the reservoir. Students and their teachers met for four days at the beautiful Tonka island situated at the Van Blommenstein reservoir. It is our intention to turn this project into an on-going activity.

Most projects in Suriname are currently being conducted as after-school (non-formal) activities, nevertheless this form of education has contributed to the enhancement of the students’ and teachers’ educational skills and has proven to be successful.

To learn more about how you can get involved in iEARN in Suriname, contact iEARN-Suriname at our office:

Daniel Coutinhostraat 20 boven, P.O.Box 5116, Paramaribo, Suriname  Dave Abeleven - Country Coordinator, Telephone: (597) 401936 / 401937  Our e-mail addres: iearn-sur@surimail.sr