STEM Project-Based Learning exploration is the following of Project-Base Learning (PBL). We have been working on our project and we want to implement our PBL curriculum to the government high school. In class we divided into two team one focus on PBL and one focus on STEM. We have created four projects to teach the government high school teachers for them to teach their students the first projects is biology; second physic; third history and last woman right. Our group were working with the teachers from two high schools, Chbar Ampov high school and Kratie Krong high school. Our first trip we went to Kratie Krong high school to train their teachers about the four topics. When we when there we were camping on the beach on Koh Truong and we have some fun at there. Also we want to follow up with the student from both schools so we went to their school again to see their students do their presentation and their final product of our PBL curriculum. After that we went to Kratie again to see the students in the Kratie Krong high school do their presentations. For the two high schools of their working hard and try our project we have some certificate that sign from the ministry. At last we take the tour to see the dolphin and go to 100 Pillars Pagoda.
Project-based Learning
My exploration called Project-based learning (PBL) and it is a teaching strategy to make students gain their knowledge and skill by working in a period of time and to involved in complicated questions problems or challenges. In class we have learned about PBL in Cambodia and in the Western part of the world. We also learned different subject in PBL and trying to research the high schools in Cambodia that have PBL in their curriculums. Our group also went to two high schools in Phnom Penh one is Chea Sim Chom Reun Roth and another called Russey Keo high school. We have interviewed with the teachers and the students in their school about PBL and what is their current curriculums. When we came back we have two main ideas that what we can do with the high school. The two main ideas is about water filter and waste management. We have planed those ideas for two week for the Russey Keo high school students to learn and then we went to the Russey Keo high school again. We show them the items that we have and let them discuss in team. My group is about wastes management and we focus on separate the wastes properly. First we introduce ourself then we show them our video about the impacts of wastes to the environment. We also told them to find out what is their problem about waste in their school and in the community. Then they go out to collect some waste that can use to recycle to make other thing that useful for them. When they finish their work we have one group call Artist’s of Cambodian judges the high school product and their teamwork and they bring some awards for the winner. Also we asked them that they want to do this project or not and they said yes so we told them that we will go back and look at their final product and their presentation for us. When we come back to school we did our reflection and we want to follow up with them so we create some ideas that we can celebrate with them and we want to give some gifts to them for their hard works.
Short Story
Spirit of My Godmother
The snow slowly falls during a winter evening, all trees vanish down the road, the cool air flew through a window, and then the sound stamping on the glossy floor when my mom walks swiftly to the window and shut it down, in Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.
My mom strolls back to me, rapidly and put my red blanket cover me,“Are you okay Lucas, let keep you warm, my son,” the voice of my mom gently voice talking to me, while she settles down on the wooden tool.
Suddenly, I heard a man with a massive voice talking to my mom, “He has only about 3 more months.”
My mom started to cry with the tears in her eyes, and then she holds close to my hand tightly, such as female bear holds close to her offspring. My heart slowly pumping blood throughout my body, just like a river water flow into smaller streams, while I am napping on the hospital bed. Every day my mom comes to the hospital, she sits beside me and the tears drop from her eyes. I want to talk back to her and comfort her, but how I possibly talk to her while I am lying and sleeping on the bed without any sign of hope. Although she knows that there isn’t any chance for me to survive, my mom always prays and hopes that I will escape from this adverse situation.
The sound of my mom smoothly and gently, devoted to god,
“Lucas is my only son please gods help him, I will do anything for my son to survive, even though you take my life for Lucas.”Then the doctor comes in the room again, with hurried and worried face and talks to my mom, “Mrs. Mason we don’t know what is your son deceased, but we only know that he has really shot time and really small percents to stay.But before that happen we promise to try our best to save him,” the doctor continued hastily.
I get worst and worst over time in the hospital, my heart gradually not processing well, the doctor rush to my bed and take me to the emergency room. They start taking heart pumping machine out and process it on my chest when the electricity running through my chest into my heart. Suddenly my heart working with normal beats like a drum beats in my favorite band, One Direction. Doctor send me back to my room and tell my mom that I surely have no chance to survive. The next day, my mom bring everything that I like from home, including my favorite red toy cars, my red caps, red football, One Direction toys, and read my favorite book to me.
She sits down on a wooden stool, next to my bed and said softly,
“Lucas, even though the doctor said that you not going to survive.” She continues whispering sadly with the tear in her eyes, with a hopeful word,“But, I still believe that you not going to leave me alone in this world, and if you were gone I just feel like a single boat in the middle of the sea, no want to talk to or no one that can make me happy.”
She reads the book to me as usual, and she says that before I had this disease when I am free I like to play football with my friends. I did really well at school, also she tells me that soon when I wake up my friends are waiting for me to play football with them. Moreover, my mom said that I am the happiest son on Earth, and she said that I am a really shy kid, but when coming to my story I always brave enough to talk and share with others, just like when the flower touches water and blooms back during spring. Next day, she comes into my room as usual but she doesn’t see or know where I am. She runs to as many and many doctors assistants, and at last one of the assistant tell her that doctor take me to the emergency room again. Then she runs hurriedly and faithfully straight into the emergency room, while the teardrops from her brooding eyes, but the doctors let her wait inside.
I heard she cries out loud, outside the room “I need to see my son, I don’t want anything to happen to my son, please doctor help him I will do anything to require you”.
That I heard the doctor said, “Yes Mrs. Mason, we will try our best to save him but now we want you to wait outside.”
My body strokes, my arms tightly can’t move, my head pinned onto the bed, my mouth wide open but do not make any noise, my eyes spread open bigger and bigger. Then the doctor quickly, processing their job to save my life as they worried about my heart beats. My heart beats get really low on the electric measurement beside my head.
Later on, the doctor goes out and look at my mom while he knocks his head and said, “He has, two more weeks, we already try our best to save him, but we have no more option to do, sorry.”
As soon as my mom heard what the doctor said, she kneels down on the floor without any hope just like you get locked inside the hungry lion’s cage and just like swimming in the ocean and suddenly there are many sharks surrounded you. The doctor tells my mom that, I might have some chance if my mom send me to the State Hospital, which is the best hospital on Earth and it is honestly super expensive. The doctor also added that, and if my mom wants to send me to another hospital, she needs to do it very quickly before I get any worst than my situation now. Then my mom talks out loud that, even our family poor she stills do anything to save my life. My mom works really hard to get money to save my life, she sells our home and land just to get money to save me. Now my heart literally barely working, and after all the hard work of my mom, she sends me to another state, and to the hospital that the doctor told her. Besides she knows that I have no second chance to live, just like groups of termites build their nest under the strongly stormy rainfall, they are never going to build the nest fully.
When I arrive at the State Hospital in Minnesota, the doctors rashly send me right in the emergency room. I am alone in Minnesota, while my mom waiting to see the result in my town because she doesn’t find enough money to be here with me. In the emergency room, doctors find out that I have unoccupied, meat grows in my heart, which means that I have extra meat. Then they send me to the surgery room and begin to do the surgery on my chest. They break my chest and into my heart, while my heart is beating really slow. They take my heart out and stick me the oxygen right in my nose and my mouth. After they took my heart out, the doctors do a surgery on my heart, just to get the unoccupied meat out. One of the doctors said to another doctor, that they can’t do anything with my heart, they need a new heart from someone that has the same type of blood and heart as me. But how can they get the heart to replace my heart, that what I really wonder and worried, if that the person that gives heart to me, still they live or die and but if they know they going to die because of no heart so why they donate it to me, instead of keeping their life.
As I am waking up the next morning, I suddenly saw an old couple standing to surround my bed and they call me Stephen, I wonder why they call me Stephen instead of Lucas. They kneel down next to my bed and say sorry for all the things and sorry that they leave me for about 16 years. They say that I am their child and the only child they have, but they decide to leave me without any reason and give me to another couple, which is my mom Amalia Earhart Mason, and my dad Earhart Mason. They say that they needed to leave me because they want to find money to save me later on in life, but accidentally they get tricked from others. But, over time they try to free their self and come back to me when they have what they need, which is money. And now it is a chance which they can come in and say sorry for everything, and want me back to live with them in the big fancy house. I was shocked, instantly after I heard they said that I am their child and they leave me for 16 years. I am little sad at the movement, but I try to understand their decision so I forgive my parents.
My real parents, want to take me to their home but I told them that my second mom lives in a small town in Boston State, so I want to bring her to my real parent’s home too. My mom and my dad agree to let me visit my second mom and bring her to their home. I really happy and we three, fly back to Boston to meet my mom. When we arrive at the town, I ask the people there do they see Mrs. Mason, but they all said that she flew to Minnesota to meet me. So we, fly back to Minnesota to find my second mother. When I arrive at the hospital that I went to, I ask the doctor there and they said they get my heart from a woman that comes into the hospital and said that she will give me her heart, and now she already pass away. I can’t feel anything, I just fall down on my knee right to the ground just like an apple fall from an apple tree, that never going to be back on the tree. My tear suddenly drops from my eyes, just like the rainfall, I can’t feel my arms, my face nor my body just like a status that have no feeling and no action.
My dad and my mom, come right into me and hug me and say, “She really loves you, Lucas, that why she did it for you, in this world no one like her she is the best human that we had never seen before.”
Then they bring me to their home, the sky is dark and crying will all millions of raindrops as their tears just like my feeling when my mom disappear. I look through the window and saw my second mom shadow saying to me that, “I wish you the best of luck with your parents, and sorry that I never tell you about your first family.”
I arrived at my parent’s home, my feeling not as down as it was when I was in the hospital. They buy me everything I would want, but I remember my past that I used to not have that much stuff to play. I still do miss my adopted mom, that always look after me and sacrificed herself just to save me, even though she knows that she not my real mom. I try to be happy, with my new friends and new everything, and I wish my adopted mom happy to see me here. Now my mom is pregnant, the baby comes out and she is a girl so I named her Amalia, just like my god adopted mom.
Desalination Water
My Independent Discovery is to desalinate salty water to drinking water because there a lot of salty water and not enough drinking water. Desalination salty water to drinking water is to move salty water into the drinking water. Some of the desalination are filtering the minerals, interesting rocks and other types of crystals. I want to make this discovery because on earth there are not enough clean water for people and animal to drink. In the first three weeks I learn how to make the model of the desalinate machine and learn the basics of how it works. Then I take some materials to do a evaporation desalinate using evaporated water. First I don’t have any salt water so to do this I need to mix the water with the salt to make it salty then I serve it to make it mix together. Then I use the black plastic bags to cover the top and put the plate in the middle of the container that I use to put salty water. I tie the plastic to the container and put some rock to make it face down for the fresh water go into the plate. After a week I use the tasting machine call TDS EC to check my experiment but my experiment doesn’t work at all. I try many time but it can’t so I went back to check the basic of it again. I want to help the world with my idea.
Ministry Day
On Tuesday 12, January 2016 it was a Ministry Day in Liger Learning Center (LLC). In this day the Minister of Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and other high school directors in Phnom Penh about 60 people were coming to Liger for doing work shop. First, at 8 AM our Liger director, Dominic Sharpe have given a speech to the Minister and other school directors. Dom have spoken a lot of things about Liger after Dom finished his speech the Minister of Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, Em Kuch give another speech to Liger and other school directors. After that we have divided the school directors and the minister into team. We have seven topic to present to them and my group is about Project-Based Learning. We start our presentation at about 8:30 AM and we have just 25 minutes to present each topic. When we hear the sound of the gong we it mean time to go to another group. After we finish 4 time of presentation we have a time to relax and have some snack about 10 minutes and then we continue our presentation to the visitors. In our Project-Based Learning team we have five examples that we want the high school on Cambodia to have such as Science Book, History Museum, Rube Goldberg, Discussion of Problem and Solution and Community Problem/Solution. After we present to all seven rounds all the school directors and the minister were having lunch. At the end we have a group picture will all the school directors and minister. It was the great day for everyone to share with the visitors. Also it can help to change the curriculum in the government schools in Cambodia.
Animals Guide in Cambodia
Animal Guide Exploration Description
Learning Facilitator: Jojo Hart
Dates: November 2014 – June 2015
In the Animal Guide exploration 13 students are researching, writing and illustrating a bilingual guide to Cambodian animals and ecosystems. Liger is collaborating with a NYC-based NGO called Art in a Box (AIB) to publish the book. Jojo leads the research and writing aspect while AIB leads the illustration aspect and publishes the final product. The book includes 87 vertebrate species and 7 ecosystems.
The goal of this exploration is that the The Guide to Cambodian Animals will be an attractive, accurate and well-written source of knowledge about Cambodian ecology and zoology that can be used in Cambodia as well as other parts of the world.
The project (November 2014 – June 2015) spans two explorations and a literacy block and incorporates many subjects including ecology, biology, geography, English literacy, Khmer literacy and art.
From November- March the 13 Animal Guide students conducted research by interviewing and emailing local conservationists, visiting ecosystems, and reading websites and books. During this first stage they learned how to recognize a reliable source, improved their interview skills, developed research and note-taking skills and amassed an impressive vocabulary.
From January – March, as the students finished their research, AIB led a 2-month course on watercolor painting. 36 Liger students, including the 13 animal guide students, worked hard to create vibrant watercolors of the species and ecosystems in the book. They learned how paint with freedom and expression.
Finally, from April – June the students used their research to write 1600-character descriptions of their species. At this stage in the project the students learned English grammar, practice new vocabulary and learned how to write concisely. We also built connections with mentors around the world, including a school in Poland, who helped edit students’ work. Since the Animal Guide will be bilingual, once the 13 Animal Guide students finished writing and editing the English descriptions, other Liger students worked with the Khmer teachers to translate it into Khmer.
2014/2015 Yearly Reflection
When I learn in Liger school the thing that I notice that it need to change in Cambodia is stop illegal thing like logging the trees and take people land for company. The solution that I think of is teach people about the benefit of the forest and make more hard law for the people who logging. Also if the company who go to take the people land for plant the thing we can put him in the jail. Also we can take all his money to the gavorment to help the people that poor in Cambodia. Also I have been talk to my brother that don’d throw the rubbish away. But sometimes he still throw away and most of the time he not throw the rubbish a way. Also I talk to him that if all the people in Cambodia throw the rubbish away and the rubbish flying around do you feel good or not. Also in Liger I have one exploration that went to Kompong Chhnang province to teach the people about First Aid to save them when they have some small problem with their health like get small cut and ankle sprain. Also I change Cambodia by another exploration call Renewable Energy. In this class we write a proposal ask for money to help the people in HAP and Cam Kids school to build biodigesters. For one year now it still working and the people that live in HAP and the people that learn in Cam Kids are happy so much when they get the biodigesters. All this thing that I have change Cambodia and I want to make Cambodia change in the future.
Animal Guide of Cambodia Book Launch
After a full an Exploration of working on researching the information of different species of animal in Cambodia. Moreover, we’ve been continuing this research in Essential which allowed us to edit work and wrote the description of those animals. So for nearly a year or so, we finally published the book.
We went to Meta House because we had published The Illustrated Guide to Wildlife of Cambodia. It was a celebration of a project that took over two years to complete. We revealed our books and displayed over 300 of our original watercolor paintings. We sold many of each and all the money went to printing and distributing the books for government schools all around Cambodia. We believe these important books will inspire other kids in Cambodia to protect their native wildlife.
Weekly Journal Partner Check List
When I went to my hometown for my holiday it was very fun. The thing I liked is to play with my brother and played football with my friends at my old school. I also had somethings that I didn’t too. The things that disadvantage to me was all my friends they were went to learn so no one played with me also when I was at home it so boring because I did not have somethings to do and no friends to play with me. Also I have freedom when I was home compared to Liger because at home I can played and relaxed but at Liger we learned and have a lot of worked to do for example homework activities and not so many time we can relaxed a lot. I also liked Liger too because at Liger have a lot of friends to play with me and helped me. Also at Liger at the weekend we can relaxed and played some game in Lap Top like Minecraft. At the weekend we can chooses the activities to do and I can played football with my friends. But at home no one helped me a lot and played with me a lot. The same things at my home and Liger there had a lot of people played with me and helped me but at Liger there had more people that help me. The different things was in Liger there was busy then my home because in Liger had homework learned a lot and cleaning the house but at my home I just relaxed and cleaned the house also I learned too but not a lot. My home and Liger I liked them both and it have somethings that I liked and somethings that I did not liked.
Student Name: Niron
Date: 1/16/2015
Writing topic/question/project: Comparing being at home and being at Liger
Number of sentences: 12
Writing partner: Panharith
| Writing Conventions | Example of feedback you made | |
| Do their sentences end with the correct punctuation mark? (ex. period, question mark, exclamation point) |  |
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| Do their sentences start with a capital letter? | |
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| Are other proper nouns capitalized? (ex. Liger Learning Center, Exploration, JoJo, Kampong Speu, Literacy) | |
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| Are the verbs in the correct tense for the time and person? (ex. She walked, I run, we went) | |
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| Do their sentences have at least one verb? | |
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| Are all words spelled correctly? Did they use spell check? | Becuse —> Because |
| Ideas and Organization | Rationale (why do you think you can check off this area) | |
| Did they answer the question clearly? | |
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| Is the writing interesting to you? | Interesting: He show what the different at home and Liger so clearly. | |
| If it was a story, was there a beginning, middle and end? | |
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| Did they use any interesting vocabulary? | Example: | |
| Are the sentences complete? Are they too long (run-on) or incomplete (fragment)? | |
Any other feedback: Your written had improved now you should proud of your self!
Cosmos Description
Name of Course: Cosmos
Learning Facilitator: Max
Number of Students: 6 students
Days we Meet: March 30 – June 12
Course Description: We learned about cosmos. In Cosmos class we used the cosmos movie to learn. We learned how life started on Earth and how many colors of light like infrared light. We learned about planets in the universe. We understand how the Earth got hit by the big rock from space. Also who was the first person to walk on the moon. Max told and explained very clearly and easier to understand. We learned who was the first person or the scientist who found the light. Next we learned who explored the planet, found the other new planet and the history of the stars. We learned how the Earth started to have a life. We learned about the black hole in the universe. We learned the big hole hit by the big rock from space a long time ago. Also we learned about believe, ex: god of the Saturn in Italy. We learned how to look at the old rocks from a long time ago. The rock that we looked at is named Grand Canyon and why we know that it the old rock is we looked at the lines on the rock to find out.