Few science teachers would deny that experiments are an important component of science lessons. In order to help teacher trainers and teachers deal with the lack of materials and knowledge to integrate experiments in Cambodian classrooms the SEAL programme has compiled in total 200 experiments for physics, chemistry, biology and earth science that are in line with the curriculum and can be done with locally available materials.
Manuals have been developed and translated and trainings are planned this semester. To help teachers with integrating these experiments into their lessons short videos have been developed in cooperation with Open Institute, a Spanish NGO, and the EEQP Programme of the Asian Development Bank. 192 videos have now been uploaded to YouTube.
Videos are typically 10 minutes long. Usually they feature two teachers engaging in a discussion. One asks questions while the other explains the experiment step-by-step. We show clearly the materials needed, the procedure and the observations. We believe that the videos address potential translation problems and are more user-friendly for reading-reluctant teachers. The Ministry of Education has been involved to guarantee the quality of the videos, making sure that correct technical terms were used.
Filming the videos was a huge undertaking, but I think all those involved can be proud of the result. We saw teachers accessing the videos on their smartphones and student teachers browsing through the videos. Posting the videos online allows keeping track of usage, identifying popular and unpopular experiments.
Videos are only available in Khmer, but we plan subtitling a few for communication purposes. Videos are available on the vvobcambodia YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/vvobcambodia?feature=watch.
