Why Teach Science?
Photo by Alex Rey, 14 years old, Oct.14, 2004
Imagine being able to contribute not only to science but to your nation. More than half the insects of the Caribbean have not been identified or even discovered. The orphans are participating in the first ever attempt to catalogue the entire population of insects in the Dominican Republic. It is like identifying the entire genome of the human being. It will be an historic achomplishment. The fact that our orphans can do something like this is more than thrilling. It is an honor. Through the help and encouragement of the curator of the comparitvie zoology museum at Harvard, Dr. Brian Farell, our orphans will participate in this important national project.
It is a vital project on many levels. First, it will begin to outline the ecological relationships of insects to plants. This will have an impact on agriculture in the DR where more than half of its GNP is dependent upon agriculture. Second, it will inspire children to learn about science. Our orphans are busy not only collecting but they spend two hours a day learning insect anatomy, use of a microscope, pinning and preservation techniques, and the interdependency of insects to plants and other insects.
The orphans have a reason to learn computers because they want to see insects on the screen in an electronic database. They want to learn how to use a digital camera because there is nothing more exiting that seeing the exotic world of an insect face to face. They want to learn to read better because there is so much to learn about insects. They want to learn to write better because we do reports on the insects we find.
Mailing Address: Snail Mail
Mailing address
(via the kindness of our friend):
Dale and Marta Johnson%
Leticia Minaya
Roman de Pina �35
Mao, Velverde, Republica Dominicana
October 19, 2004
Field report from Good Samaritan Orphanage, Dominican Republic
Over the past year Marta and I have gotten to know a local Peace Corp couple. Steve and Laura Pryzmus are from Oklahoma and they are here in Esperanza to teach in the public schools. Steve teaches computers and Laura has a degree in biology. When they learned of our insect project they offered to help our orphans. Laura offered to teach scientific methods to capture, preserve, mount, and identify insects. She has training as an entomologist.
Also when they learned of our contact with the Harvard Comparative Zoology Museum they suggested that we do a nationwide network with our orphans and about 30 classrooms of children who are studying science and ecology, supervised by Peace Corps specialists in this area. Steve and I have setup a blog and website to record daily observations and collections. We are in the beginning stages but it is meeting with real enthusiastic reponses.
Having our children in contact with other children who are enthusiastic about science and learning will create both cooperative and competitive efforts.
Photo by Raul Rodriguiz, 12 years old, of the foreleg of a mole cricket. Taken with an Olympus D540 Zoom Cammedia Camera, Oct. 14, 2004
On Saturday we took the younger orphans to the beach of Playa Guzmancito. It turned out to be a perfect beach for the kids. We collected hermit crabs, played in the shallow water, ate figs off the trees, and just had a plain good time.
Dale and Marta Johnson,
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atten. Dale and Marta
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