Lake Mantasoa School
- Nonprofit
Enabling all children and youth to receive a quality education in rural Madagascar.
Community Development for all ages.
- Prototype: An organization building and testing its product or program, but which is not yet serving anyone.
Mary is a co-founder of the Association BOO Madagascar.
She started Lake Mantasoa School and has taught all subjects to all ages, with a particular emphasis on Active Learning and STEM challenges.
She lives and works in Madagascar for much of the year, and has done for nearly 40 years.
Mary Barber founded the school, teaching all ages and all subjects. She now has a more advisory role, with time to meet staff and do observations.
Using more team teaching will enable staff to see new ideas and implement them.
The Director already does observation lessons, and is keen to improve retention of information in the pupils.
The school has been involved in some different training methods from outside groups.
We have help from outside teachers.
To improve outcomes for children ages 2-12 demonstrating the effectiveness of evidence-based learning.
Much of the Malagasy Education system is focused on passing exams. As a team we want to show other ways of gaining evidence that lessons are being understood, without formal exams 5 times a year!
To encourage more self-learning and understanding.
- Women & Girls
- Pre-primary age children (ages 2-5)
- Primary school children (ages 5-12)
- Rural
- Poor
- Low-Income
- Persons with Disabilities
- Level 2: You capture data that shows positive change, but you cannot confirm you caused this.
Foundational Research:
Teacher training sharing many new ideas, as most teachers in Madagascar have not seen active learning.
Training courses showing use of entry and exit questions etc.
Much investigation online of different solutions.
The teachers are willing to learn about new ideas, but many are stuck with teaching in the way they were taught! (Chalk and talk)
It has been exciting to see a few implementing these ideas and see the enthusiasm from the pupils.
Our school director (and most schools in Madagascar) sees using many exams as the way of improving results.
We have a young staff who are eager to try new methods.
We need evidence that active learning has better results holistically and not just for state exams. That pupils enjoy learning, that it can be fun and not just rote learning.
1. What is the best way of helping rural, disadvantaged children in Madagascar learn?
2. How can we develop more continuous assessment to cut down on weeks of time spent on exams?
- Foundational research (literature reviews, desktop research)
- Formative research (e.g. usability studies; feasibility studies; case studies; user interviews; implementation studies; pre-post or multi-measure research; correlational studies)
Better retention of information in the students.
More teaching time without preparation, execution and correcting exams.
More active teaching.
More use of resources.
More training
Discussion
Research
Share results with other schools and Ministry of Education
Encourage Primary Teachers to visit our Preschool and use ideas to continue the enthusiasm there. More team work.
More continuous monitoring and assessment, and fewer formal exams.
Better retention of knowledge.
To become a model school for our methods.