Tag: education25
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Monitoring and Evaluation is Hard*
A primary component of the Millennium Villages Project education strategy is to improve the quality of education. But are MVP interventions such as school feeding programs, classroom construction, and teacher training truly having an impact on student performance? On Wednesday I attended a planning meeting for an evaluation designed to measure just that. The standardized…
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A Week with the Sauri, Kenya Education Team
Originally posted at karibusauri.wordpress.com My first week’s rotation at the Sauri Millennium Village was with the education sector. In three short days I observed MVP sponsored computer labs, school feeding program kitchens, gender separated latrines, a monitoring and evaluation planning meeting, rainwater harvesting, school livestock; the list goes on. The education team is constantly on the…
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Sustainable Development Concentrators Celebrate Graduation at Special Breakfast Reception
Students from the undergraduate special concentration in sustainable development celebrated their graduation from Columbia College and the School of General Studies on May 18 at a special breakfast held for them in Columbia’s Faculty House. Family, friends and faculty gathered with students who reflected on the achievements of the last four years and recalled sustainable…
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Triaging the Behindedness
Last fall, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, honored my former advisor and boss, Bill Ryan. As my small contribution, I offered this essay that ends with a story about Bill. “Triage” is a term originating with medical personnel in the military. Its original meaning was the process of dividing wounded on the battlefield into three groups: those…
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Seismologists Gather for “Discourse over Materials”
Every Friday afternoon, for as long as anyone can remember, the seismologists at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have gathered for a lively session of discourse over materials. “Discourse over materials” is a phrase coined by scholars who use ethnographic techniques to study the behavior of scientists and science students as though they (we) were a recently-contacted…
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Challenges Inherent in Teaching Geosciences
Several inherent attributes of ocean, atmosphere and solid earth sciences contribute to making these disciplines challenging to teach and learn at the K-14 level. These include the large spatial scale of important processes, the consequent reliance on models and representations rather than actual target phenomena in hands-on activities, the centrality of systems thinking and emergent…
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Creating a Workforce to Achieve a Low-Carbon Economy
Thanks to a recent gift of $250,000 from a generous Columbia University alumnus, the Earth Institute will be establishing an innovative master’s level program in carbon management. The program will provide interested students with the interdisciplinary knowledge and skills needed to address the complex and competing challenges of achieving a low-carbon economy.
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Take MDP Courses in the USA, Practice in Nigeria, Graduate in Costa Rica
As a student, imagine taking courses from experts at the Earth Institute and the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, living in Nigeria for two months while helping villages problem-solve the complex challenges of sustainable development, and graduating from your home institution in Costa Rica. Picture meeting at a university campus every…
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Global Linkages, Global Literacy: MCI Celebrates World Read Aloud Day through School-to-School Partnerships
What happens when students around the world are connected via modern technologies to share their experiences and perspectives? The Millennium Cities Initiative is determined to find out through its exciting School-to-School partnership program, which brings together schools from the United States with schools in the Millennium Cities – underserved urban areas of sub-Saharan Africa. While…
Congratulations to our Columbia Climate School MA in Climate & Society Class of 2024! Learn about our May 10 Class Day celebration. #ColumbiaClimate2024