a Science Educator at the Mayflower College

BSc (Hons) Molecular Biology, MSc Molecular and Cell Biology, MPhil from the University of Mauritius

I am actually on a PhD programme at the University of Mauritius on Comparative Genomic of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis. 

Besides, my academic and professional involvement, I am also a film maker. I do films in collaboration with the Mauritius Film Development Corporation for the multiple competitions launched by the above-mentioned Corporation. I also make humoristic and educational videos which are available on YouTube. 

Personal Statement 

I am an educator because I want to make a difference; a difference in the life of learners. First of all, I would like to make an honest statement; even if today I am an educator, I was once a late-learner. With due respect to my teachers, I was among the back benchers! I needed support, I needed a guide, I needed a mentor who could see the qualities in me and mould me to become someone someday. 

Fortunately, I did meet with such teachers during my stay at college. I was greatly inspired by them; I was inspired by their personality, their passion for teaching, their approach and mostly the bunch of knowledge that they possessed. I was thus inspired to become a knowledge-hub and to be an educator like them. I always wished to impart my knowledge equally among my students. I believe an educator should be able to cater for the needs of each of his student without marginalizing anyone.

My dream has always been to remove the title of “backbenchers” from the educational system and make everyone equal in class, irrespective of their learning styles. I firmly believe that an educator is like a jeweler, who crafts, moulds and creates master pieces from raw metals.  

I would say, for me, teaching was somehow instinctive. It was a long way; with many obstacles to stand where I am today but I didn’t let go. Based on the maxim “Where there is a will, there is a way”, I treaded the difficult path to reach where I wanted to be. 

My Philosophy of Teaching

“Theories and goals of education doesn’t matter a whit if you do not consider your students to be human beings” Lou Ann Walker

My philosophy of teaching is that every child is unique. Every child has his own way of learning and we, as educators, we should find the different ways that each child needs to be able to learn. Ignacio Estrada says, “If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn”. 

A child should be given the opportunity to maintain his individuality during the learning process because this is where he is going to decide the individual he will become later. We should avoid molding the child in our way rather we should give him the space and tools required to become an autonomous individual. Thus, I firmly believe that we should stimulate such a learning environment where the child can grow physically, emotionally, socially and academically.

My image of a child is that he is a capable being and he should be the main character of the teaching and learning process. He is the one to be put within the frame and he is the one on whom we should focus. In this sense, there is an urge to move from the traditional teacher-centered approach to a more learner-centered approach, which can easily allow us to meet the Bloom’s Taxonomy, which is essential for the overall development of a child as it covers the cognitive, affective and sensory domains.

Innovative Pedagogies

An innovative instructional process is very important for the present and the future of education so as to enable students to meet their goals. Around the world, much emphasis is being laid on new educational challenges and many tailored pedagogies have been designed by professionals in the field to meet the new contemporary challenges. 

On one side it is an unfortunate fact that many students are disinterested and scores less or even very less than their real potential. On the other side, the aims and objectives of the education sector is becoming more and more challenging. In order to strike a balance between the two, innovation is a must!

As mentioned above, many teaching strategies have been designed for the new generation. However, it is primarily the trends, cultures and challenges which are the ingredients for shaping pedagogical innovation. We are living a technological revolution. The digitized life-style has made its way in the educational sector as well and has given birth to the phenomena called “Micro-learning”. We should accept the fact that students are no more bookworms and gradually computers, smart phones, videos and smart board are replacing books and the traditional blackboard. Dr Gleason states “The job of the professor will change. Professors, like everyone else, will have to constantly be learning how to use and communicate with those who use new technologies. Students will collect information in new ways; some of this will be complemented by artificial intelligence and online learning.” 

Based on Dr Gleason statement, we should ready ourselves to enter into a new dimension of teaching and learning process.  

My Teaching Style 

There are so many ways to be an effective teacher. Where a student is unique and has his own learning style, a teacher also is unique and has his own teaching style. 

Science is a very difficult subject to teach and years after years we have less and less students who opt for Science in upper grades. Thus, it is a must to move from the traditional approach and adopt contemporary strategies to make the classes interesting and appealing. At my level, the use of multimedia supports has been so far a success. For instance, showing a diagram in the book or drawing it on the blackboard is not so interesting for the new generation. On the contrary, showing them the same diagram in downloaded colorful images or animated videos boosts up their interest. In this context, my classes have become very enthusiastic, entertaining and innovative. My classes are lively as I use much animation videos while relating them to everyday life. Much emphasis is laid on gestures, facial expressions and voice. Furthermore, I have the ability to explain complex theories in very simple ways.

As mentioned above, I am a film maker, I have also worked on educational videos to make the teaching and learning of Science an easy task. The videos are available on my channel; that is “Kevin Persand” on Youtube.

Moreover, I have also worked on a video on the history of slaves in Mauritius to help students to visualise and memorise this important historical part of our Island. The title of the video is “Le Noir de l’Étoile” and is available on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0yLJ4eXRaA&t=26s

Workshops attended

•  Annual workshops on science organized by Rajiv Gandhi Science Center
• Workshops on film making organized by Mauritius Film Development cooperation
• Magic show organized by University of Mauritius

Competitions taken part in

• Annual science competition organized by Rajiv Gandhi Science Center
• Annual short film (inter-college film competitions) organized by Mauritius Film Development cooperation
• Science competitions organized by Mauritius Commercial Bank
• Short film competition on cultural heritage organized by National Heritage Trust Fund
• Short film on anti-corruption organized by Independent Commission Against Corruption
• Documentary films organized by Constance Award Groups

My videos. 

As mentioned above, I have directed many videos and short films. Whatever work I have done in the cinematography, is surely beneficial in the educational sector. First of all, my videos on Biology are being used in my classes, by other colleagues and they are also being viewed by students of other schools. In my class, I have less than 15 students, but on YouTube, the videos I do reach 1000 – 4000 students.

Moreover, videos I did on social issues like domestic violence, drugs, school drop-out, homeless people, and patriotism are reaching at least thousands of viewers. The aim of the videos is to sensitize people and encourage people for a change, thus meeting the affectionate side of the learning objectives. 

At school, these short-films are more frequently used in grade 12 and grade 13 by language teachers, as these are common topics for Essay Writing. 

Lastly, it is important to note that my videos are beneficial, not only to students of my college, but also to students and people around the island and in other countries as they are available on YouTube. 

While watching a video once, I came across the following statement: “It is not about what you know but it is about what you do; it is not about how much intelligence you have but about how much impact you make.”

I was much impressed by the statement and somewhere it reinforced the willingness within me to make an impact. It is commonsense knowledge that the visual is one among other tools which is efficiently impacting the life of people. Thus, I do believe that the available videos on my channel on YouTube and the forthcoming videos is surely making an impact. 

Future Goal

Our society is experiencing evolution every day. What today we are calling innovative pedagogies might change in the near future. My challenge to myself is that I am able to evolve along with the stream and provide a classroom environment which will be conducive to learning.

Courses/Conferences attended abroad

• Bioinformatics and diseases (Durban, South Africa; 2012). 
•  International conference/presentation of my research works on infectious diseases (Tanzania, Africa; 2015)
• Poster presentations on my PhD research topics at the University of Mauritius

The number of students studying science subjects in secondary schools in Mauritius keeps declining years after years. We are losing an alarming proportion of our nation’s science talent once the students get to college. Biology is, without doubt, the science subject most affected, compared to Physics and Chemistry. Recent statistics have shown that less than one quarter of the secondary school students taking science subject opts for Biology. More Mauritian students now complete high school and more go on to university. Yet there is a decline and stagnation in science study in an actual era when it is evident that biological sciences play an ever-increasing role in our lives and in countries’ economies. Mauritius is a small island in the Indian Ocean and the country is home to some of the world’s rarest flora and fauna. Mauritius relies heavily on the agricultural sector and its marine biological diversity. These natural resources are the foundation of the country’s future, and economic development along with protecting the environment is the basis of sustainable development. 

The two major factors that dissuade students to opt for Biology are: (1) the nature of the science itself based on memorization and its teaching methods which make the subject bulky/overloaded and (2) students rarely connect these topics with daily life and thus they don’t relate this subject to working life. Moreover, their interest in learning Biology diminishes due to the absence of creative expression opportunities and the alienation of science from Mauritian society. 

I have been teaching Biology for the past six years at Mayflower College, a private secondary school located in the East of Mauritius, with less than 1000 students. The students are from average academic background and rarely chose science subjects as majors. When I joined the school, there were very few students who opted for Biology. Today, with the implementation of new teaching ideas, a greater number of students are taking Biology compared to Physics and Chemistry. I have worked on a number of teaching strategies to reverse the traditional teaching methods and encourage students take interest in the subject and also improve the effectiveness of student’s Biology learning. Whenever I have the opportunity, I invite and bring my student to science related job fairs in order to show them the importance of doing biological sciences at school and the applications in everyday working life. By doing this, they can keep in mind that there is a growing need for biologist on the job market for a developing country like Mauritius. 

I have been using multimedia in the form of visual materials to teach Biology. I deliver my notes through PowerPoint presentations, including for example visually attractive diagrams of the human and plant anatomy. When explaining complex physiological processes that cannot be seen by naked eye, I take the help of animated videos on YouTube that shows the inner mechanism instead of giving students bulky notes to memorize on the topic. A picture or video is definitely worth a thousand words; it stimulates my student’s senses in the classroom and allows interaction between my students and me. Using multimedia elements have shown positive effects on my student’s academic achievement/performance and attitude to learn Biology. Moreover, as a part-time filmmaker, I make YouTube videos on different chapters summarizing the main points in the simplest way possible. In this 21st century of Information and Communication Technology, students are less bookish, take less interest in Biology textbook, and spend more time in front of a screen. Thus, the adoption and use of multimedia elements is more effective for the cognitive and attitude development of my students in biology than the conventional methods. My videos give them access to follow my classes several times and at any time even outside school hours. My class may currently consist of less than 15 students, but on YouTube, my videos have a minimum of 1000 views which means that my teaching methods have also reached students from other schools. Students find this method stimulating and innovative, and they keep asking for more videos on specific topics in which they have weaknesses. Thus, they get a personalized attention and feel less hesitant to communicate with me. 

Education is not just academic performance but also imparting the younger generation with values. During my free time, I have also made a number of videos related to social issues like drugs, domestic violence, entrepreneurship etc. Those films have won me each, over 25 – 50,000 views and awards from the organizers committee of the films. I now initiate my students to act in my films. I have recently made a video on the history of immigrants; slavery and early culture in Mauritius to help students to gain a better understanding of the history of their ancestors and connect to it. My school colleagues use this video in their class as a teaching aid. Therefore, multimedia is a powerful tool and is recommended, both as a way to reach and influence other students and this approach should be exploited in the teaching of biology in secondary schools to improve students’ learning outcomes in the subject.

• Share with the world some of the teaching strategies that I have used to get more students opting for Biology and getting better grades at the subject
• Inspire from Science/Biology teachers worldwide of innovative ways to motivate students to opt for, and study Science/Biology and identify potential job prospects.
• Get contacts details of educators that we can use to share ideas even after the IPF
• Implement the knowledge gained from the forum in my daily working environment at my school and sharing the same with my other colleagues in Mauritius (Science Department and Society of Biology)