Current and recent program activities

2009-2010 MyCOE / SERVIR
Biodiversity Initiative in Africa

MyCOE / SERVIR is supporting interdisciplinary and multi-sectoral teams of university students and their mentors to learn to apply geographic techniques for research on protected areas, threatened species, and related topics in Africa.

Biodiversity Initiative in Central America

MyCOE trained 25 students and mentors on 12 interdisciplinary teams from 9 countries to use GIS, GPS, remote sensing and geographic methods for biodiversity initiatives in Central America.

Supporting Basic Math & Science Education in the Muslim World: Middle East and North Africa

MyCOE used an innovative combination of geographic education and technology with an inquiry-driven, hands-on teaching method involving youth with local projects to promote the use of Geography and GIS in support of improvements to basic math and science education in the Muslim World. Twenty-five K-12 teachers from 10 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region gathered to learn how, and to receive extensive sets of innovative educational resources and experiences in the Arabic language.

Improving Environmental Education in South Asia
MyCOE engaged more than 200 teachers and trained 35 educators in the use of geography and GIS for environmental science education in the Philippines. The program developed and disseminated tailored new materials and ready-to-use lesson plans for teachers at middle and high school levels to incorporate field experiences in their classrooms, based upon freely available data and software.

Ongoing activities of MyCOE alumni

Geography and Education in Chile
The University of La Serena, Chile, has begun organizing a yearly research project competition as part of the GeoElqui Program. The competition, now in its third year, follows the MyCOE model, in which local students use geographic technologies to address an environmental issue.

Young participants in the GeoElqui Workshop, held at the Colegio San Nicolás de la Serena, in Chile.

Ivan Sepúlveda, at far left, congratulates participants of the 2009 GeoElqui workshop. Professor Sepúlveda has organized this geography education program since 2007.

MyCOE Pagadian Teacher Professional Development Workshop in the Philippines
The MyCOE Pagadian Teacher Professional Development Workshop was spearheaded by the Biosphereans' Science Club of Zamboanga del Sur National High School-San Pedro Annex, Pagadian City, Philippines. Based on the MyCOE model, the workshop gave high school mathematics and science teachers the opportunity to learn about geographic technologies for basic math and science using hands-on learning strategies. The event, held February 28, 2009, trained 60 teachers.  For more information, please visit the Workshop website.

Read about past partnership activities in the archived initiatives.