Ramallah – (A.M. Qattan Foundation – 18 January 2019):
On Friday, 18 January 2019, the Educational Research and Development Programme (ERDP) of the A.M. Qattan Foundation launched the events of Winter Courses held over three days in Jericho, with the participation of 120 teachers from the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
The Winter Courses are part of an educational initiative organized annually by AMQF as part of the professional development programmes for teachers. These programmes aim to enhance education through developing educational themes and linking them to human experience, and to enable teachers to develop educational strategies suitable for their students and their realities, utilizing various educational methodologies.
Wasim Kurdi, ERDP Director, stated that the Winter Courses are a continuation of a comprehensive programme which offers an experience in education, inspired by teachers in order to bring transformative change in different educational approaches.
He pointed at the fact that teachers in the three offered courses will be able to engage in different contexts because all themes complement each other.
He added that this year, the courses include first and second-year teachers from the Drama in Education Summer School, and early childhood educators from the professional development programme, in addition to a new group joining the programme for the first time for a comprehensive programme in teaching sciences.
The teachers were able to join one of three concurrent courses. The first course on Drama in Education titled Planning Methodologies and Classroom Application, divided the teachers from the Summer School into two groups. It was delivered by Wasim Kurdi, Mutasem al-Atrash, ERDP Researcher and Sawsan Mar’i.
The second course, titled Thinking Sciences Differently: Science through Exhibitions, Arts and Inquiry, was targeted at teachers interested in science and scientific culture. The course was led by Nader Wahbeh, Science Studio Manager and his team.
The third course, Story, Drama and the Mantle of the Expert: Active Exploration of the World Inside the Classroom, was targeted at early childhood educators, moderated by Malik al-Rimawi, Manager of ERDP Languages and Humanities Track, Vivien Tannous and Mohammed Khawaja, ERDP Researchers.
The activities also included evening sessions; researcher Ra'fat Asad ran a workshop on art and society, and Dima Saqfelhait led another titled Learning Possibilities through Short Feature Films.